THE 



CTCLOPMA OF FRATERNITIES 



A COMPILATION OF 

EXISTING AUTHENTIC INFORMATION AND THE RESULTS OF 
ORIGINAL INVESTIGATION AS TO THE ORIGIN, DERIVA- 
TION, FOUNDERS, DEVELOPMENT, AIMS, EMBLEMS, 
CHARACTER, AND PERSONNEL OF 



MORE THAN SIX HUNDRED SECRET 
SOCIETIES IN THE UNITED STATES 



SUPPLEMENTED BY 

FAMILY TEEES OF GROUPS OF SOCIETIES, COMPARATIVE STATISTICS 

OF MEMBERSHIP, CHARTS, PLATES, MAPS, AND 

THE NAMES OF MANY 

REPRESENTATIVE MEMBERS. 



COMPILED AND EDITED BY 

ALBERT C. STEVENS 

ASSOCIATE EDITOR OF THE STANDARD DICTIONARY AND FORMER EDITOR OF " BRADSTREET's 

ASSISTED BY MORE THAN ONE THOUSAND 
MEMBERS OF LIVING SECRET SOCIETIES. 



NEW YORK CITY: 
PATERSON, N. J.: 

HAMILTON PRINTING AND PUBLISHING COMPANY 

1899. 









<T 



30045 



Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1896, by 
Albert C. Stevens, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress 



TWO COPIES REC-IVED. 






(( APR 171899 ] 




/ 

THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED 

TO 

THAT UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD, 

TO WHICH, IN TRUTH, BELONG THE GOOD MEN AND TRUE OF 

ALL FRATERNITIES. 

—THE AUTHOR. 



Dicitis omnis in imbecilitate est et gratia, et caritas. — Cicero. 



Reason, it is certain, would oblige every man to pursue 
the general happiness as the means to procure and establish his 
own; and yet, if, besides this consideration, there were not a 
natural instinct prompting men to desire the welfare and satis- 
faction of others, self-love, in defiance of the admonitions of 
reason, would quickly run all things into a state of war and 
confusion. — The Spectator, Sept. 1, 1714. 



PREFACE 



In the Cyclopaedia of Fraternities 
the first attempt is made, so far as known, 
to trace, from a sociological point of view, 
the development of Secret Societies in the 
United States. 

Freemasonry, of course, is shown to be 
the mother fraternity in fact, as well as 
in name; but particular interest will attach 
to details connecting many of the more 
important fraternities with Freemasonry. 
Broader, and fully as interesting, is the fact 
that in free and democratic America there 
are more secret societies and a larger ag- 
gregate membership among such organiza- 
tions than in all other civilized countries. 

The probable extent of the influence of 
secret society life may be inferred from the 
fact that more than 6,000,000 Americans 
are members of 300 such organizations, 
which confer about 1,000 degrees on 200,000 
novitiates annually, aided, in instances, by 
a wealth of paraphernalia and dramatic cere- 
monial which rivals modern stage effects. 
More than 30,000 members are annually 
added to the rolls of Masonic Lodges in the 
United States; quite as many join the Odd 
Fellows, and one-half as many the Knights 
of Pythias; more than 100,000 join other 
secret societies, the lodges, chapters, or 
councils of which dot the country almost 
coincidently with the erection of churches 
and schoolhouses. 

It is rarely that one in ten of the active 
members of secret societies is familiar with 
the origin and growth of his own fraternity, 
and not one in a hundred has a fair con- 
ception of the relation of his own organiza- 
tion to like societies, or of the origin and 
evolution of leading organizations which 
form the secret society world. For this 
reason not only the 200,000 new members 
of such societies each year, but older breth- 
ren as well, should find in the Cyclopaedia 
of Fraternities a valuable supplement to 



all previously acquired information on the 
subject. So much that is not true has 
, been written about secret societies by their 
friends, as well as enemies, and so much 
that is of doubtful authenticity regarding 
them appears in what have been considered 
standard works, that an analytical supple- 
mentary treatise becomes a necessity. 

More than half the secret societies in the 
United States pay death, sick, accident, dis- 
ability, funeral, or other benefits. They are 
an outgrowth of the old English friendly 
societies and of Masonic influences, and are 
generally described as beneficiary and char- 
itable organizations, sometimes as fraternal 
orders. Their total membership is enor- 
mous and is growing rapidly. The move- 
ment represents a system of cooperative in- 
surance, usually characterized as "protec- 
tion," and is attracting the attention of not 
only old line insurance companies, but of 
legislatures as well. 

So important has this branch of secret 
society life become, that it has been given 
extended treatment under "National Fra- 
ternal Congress," which chapter is contrib- 
uted by Major X. S. Boynton of Port Hu- 
ron, Mich. Returns as to the nature of the 
protection or benefits given, and methods of 
collecting the same, with costs per capita 
at various periods, have been furnished by 
nearly all the large beneficiary societies, 
and are published in full. The accompany- 
ing analysis and comparison are by Mr. 
Frank Greene, managing editor of Brad- 
street's. This feature should prove of ex- 
ceptional interest to members of beneficiary 
orders. 

One of the revelations of the book is found 
in the reference to secret sisterhoods at- 
tached to beneficiary fraternities, as well 
as separate societies of women, relatives of 
members of brotherhoods, numbering alto- 
gether about half a million women. Among 



VI 



PREFACE 



the larger are the Daughters of Rebekah, 
the Order of the Eastern Star, Ladies of the 
Maccabees, the Kathbone Sisters, Pythian 
Sisterhood, the Daughters of Liberty, the 
Daughters of America, and others. In ad- 
dition, there are many beneficiary societies 
which admit both men and women. 

The results of an examination of standard 
histories of Freemasonry, condensed for the 
Cyclopedia of Fraternities, ignore un- 
corroborated traditions as to origin and 
growth, but embody the conclusions of the 
ablest modern Masonic historians. Supple- 
mentary chapters on Freemasonry contain 
much that is published for the first time. 
In all of them the view-point is that of the 
inquiring Freemason, young or old. Too 
much is left nowadays for the newly-made 
Master Mason to find out by studying the 
thousand and one books, good, bad, and 
indifferent, truthful and traditional, with 
which the shelves of Masonic libraries are 
filled. The results of prolonged investi- 
gation are embodied in special chapters 
on "Freemasonry among Negroes," includ- 
ing the English, American, and Scottish 
Rites; " Freemasonry among the Mormons," 
containing original matter contributed by 
brethren familiar with the work of the Mor- 
mon Lodge at Nauvoo, 111., fifty years ago; 
and " Freemasonry among the Chinese," 
which phrase acquires a new meaning. Ma- 
sonic Rites, their origin, growth, and dis- 
tribution of membership throughout the 
world, their present condition, relationship, 
and modes of government, are presented 
more clearly, perhaps, than ever before. 

Scottish Rite Freemasonry, the discussion 
of which includes a list of the names and 
addresses of all thirty-third degree Free- 
masons in the United States, is dealt with 
so as to make plain much that is misunder- 
stood. The work involved in preparing this 
chapter necessitated retracing the steps of 
many who had gone that way before. Mas- 
ter Masons will find the story a brief and 
clear exposition of what has often been 
befogged. 



Modern Occult Societies are nominally 
more numerous than their following would 
seem to warrant. Nearly all have been 
based upon Masonic degrees or legends. 
The only noteworthy survivor is the Theo- 
sophical Society. Mrs. Annie Besant, suc- 
cessor to Madame Helen P. Blavatsky, 
writes interestingly regarding this Society 
for the Cyclopedia of Fraternities, 
making several points which will attract the 
attention of Masonic students. 

As very few among those who have here- 
tofore treated of events during the period 
1827 to 1845 have appreciated the part the 
anti-Masonic agitation played in peopling 
what may be called the secret society world, 
this interesting topic is quite fully discussed 
under the heads, "Anti- Masonry," "Col- 
lege Fraternities," " Patriotic Orders," and 
"Independent Order of Odd Fellows." 

The extent to which the Roman Catholic 
Church has antagonized secret societies in 
America is referred to, in part, under 
"Anti-Masonry;" but its later attitude, 
looking without disfavor on the formation 
of private beneficiary and charitable organ- 
izations, does not appear to have received 
treatment elsewhere. The movement is sig- 
nificant in that it constitutes the revival of 
"a little Freemasonry" wholly within the 
Church! 

Among the original charts, maps, family 
trees, and other diagrams, prepared for 
the Cyclopedia of Fraternities are the 
following : 

1. Secret Society Membership Map of the 

United States; 

2. Masonic Map of the World; 

3. Spread of Freemasonry from England 

throughout the World; 

4. Number of Freemasons in Various 

Countries; 

5. Number of Master Masons in each of 

the Leading Masonic Rites; 

6. Relationship of the English, American, 

and Scottish Rites of Freemasonry; 

7. Legitimate and Illegitimate Scottish 

Rite Masonic Bodies; 



GENEALOGICAL OR FAMILY TREE OP SECRET SOCIETIES. 



FKEEMASONRY. 



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PREFACE 



8. Odd Fellowship, its Branches and 

Schisms; 

9. Orders of White and of Negro Odd Fel- 

lows and their Branches; 

10. Origin and Relationship of Orders of 

Foresters ; 

11. Patriotic and Political Societies, 1765 

(Sons of Liberty) to date (American 
Protective Association) ; 

12. American College Fraternities and their 

Extension ; 

13. Relationship of Temperance Secret So- 

cieties; 

14. Hebrew Secret, Charitable Organiza- 

tions ; 

15. Railroad Employes' Brotherhoods, and 

16. Labor Organizations. 

Students of the curious will be interested 
in the discussions of anti-Roman Catholic 
secret societies, societies which favor a 
silver monetary standard, mystical organi- 
zations to teach economics, for the encour- 
agement of recreation, enforcing law and 
order, for carrying out revolutionary de- 
signs, for indulging in eccentricity, and for 
subverting law and order. The list is not 
a long one, but is interesting as a sociologi- 
cal record. 

The labor entailed in compiling the 
Cyclopedia of Fraternities has been 
lightened by the cooperation of members of 
the societies named ; and for much that is 
meritorious herein, particular credit is in 
part due to those whose names are appended, 
to whom the warmest acknowledgments are 
extended : 
Adelnbehagen, Paul, A. F. and A. M., 

Hamburg, Netherlands. 
Allan, F. W\, A. F. and A. M., Glasgow, 

Scotland. 
Arthur, P. M., Brotherhood of Locomotive 

Engineers, Cleveland, 0. 
Backus, Rev. J. E., Independent Order of 

Good Templars, Rome, N. Y. 
Bangs, Algernon S., United Order of the 

G-olden Cross, Augusta, Me. 
Baskett, S. R., A. F. and A. M., Evershot, 

Dorchester, England. 



Bates, John L., United Order of Pilgrim 
Fathers, Boston, Mass. 

Bayley, J., Independent Order of Foresters, 
Toronto, Ont. 

Beck, Charles F., A. F. and A. M., De- 
troit, Mich. 

Bellamy, Marsden, Knights of Honor, Wil- 
mington, N. C. 

Bernstein, Paul, American Star Order, New 
York. 

Besant, Mrs. Annie, Theosophical Society, 
London, England. 

Bien, Julius, B'nai B'rith, New York. 

Bierce, C. A., Order of the Golden Rod, 
Detroit, Mich. 

Bigelow, Joseph Hill, College Fraternities, 
College City New York. 

Biggs, D. S., American Legion of Honor, 
Boston, Mass. 

Bloss, J. M., Equitable Aid Union, Titus- 
ville, Pa. 

Bolton, DeWitt C, Knights of Pythias, 
Pater son, N. J. 

Boughton, J. S., Order of Select Friends, 
Lawrence, Kan. 

Bowles, G. F., The Universal Brotherhood, 
Natchez, Miss. 

Boyd, W. T., A. F. and A. M., Cleveland, 0. 

Brown, F. L., Improved Order of Hepta- 
sophs, Scran ton, Pa. 

Buchanan, James Isaac, A. F. and A. M., 
Pittsburg, Pa. 

Bundy, William E., Sons of Veterans, 
U. S. A., Cincinnati, 0. 

Burmester, Charles E., Adjutant-General, 
G. A. R., Omaha, Neb. 

Burnett, D. Z., Knights- of Pythias, Wash- 
ington, D. C. . 

Burton, Alonzo J., Order of the Eastern 
Star, New York, N. Y. 

Burton, John R., Modern Order of Crafts- 
men, Detroit, Mich. 

Campfield, George A., Independent Order 
of Foresters, Detroit, Mich. 

Carlos, James J., St. Patrick's Alliance of 
America, Newark, N. J. 

Carnahan, Major-General James R., Knights 
of Pythias, Indianapolis, Ind. 



PREFACE i x 

Carson, E. T., A. F. and A. M., Cincin- Donnelly, T. M., Woodchoppers' Associa- 

nati, 0. tion, Jersey City, N. J. 

Carter, John M., A. F. and A. M., Balti- Dore, John P., Massachusetts Catholic Or- 

more, Md. der of Foresters, Boston, Mass. 

Chase, Ira J., Tribe of Ben Hur, Crawfords- Dbrf, Samuel, B'rith Abraham, New York. 

ville, Ind. Doris, T. C, Ancient Order of the Sanhe- 

Churchill, C. Robert, College Fraternities, drim, Richmond, Va. 

New Orleans, La. Dorwell, R. R., Good Samaritans and 

Clancy, J. J., Ancient Order of Hibernians, Daughters of Samaria, Stamford, Conn. 

Trenton, N. J. Dougherty, John, Switchmen's Union, N. 

Clare, Ralph B., Knights of the Mystic A., Kansas City, Mo. 

Chain, Philadelphia, Pa. Eavenson, Marvin M., Sons of Temperance, 

Clark, E. E., Order of Railway Conductors, Philadelphia, Pa. 

Cedar Rapids, la. Edelstein, John, A. F. and A. M., Jersey 

Clark, Miss F. M., New England Order of City, N. J. 

Protection, Boston, Mass. Edmunds, G., A. F. and A. M., Carthage, 

Clarkson, Thaddeus S., G. A. R., Omaha, 111. 

Neb. Eidson, W. R., American Benevolent As- 

Clendenen, G. W., Mystic Order of the sociation, St. Louis, Mo. 

AVorld, Fulton, 111. Ellinger, M., B'nai B'rith, New York. 

Clift, J. Augustus, A. F. and A. M., St. Engelhardt, August, Benevolent Order of 

Johns, X. F. Buffaloes, New York. 

Coffin, Selden J., College Fraternities, La- Everett, D., Brotherhood of Locomotive 

fayette College, Easton, Pa. Engineers, Cleveland, 0. 

Colby, Arthur W., College Fraternities, Failev, James F., Order of Iron Hall, In- 

Cleveland, 0. dianapolis, Ind. 

Congdon, Joseph W., A. F. and A. M.. Farrell. J. H., Royal Arcanum, Paterson, 

Paterson, N. J. \. J. 

Cotter, Frank G., Actors' Order of Friend- Fields, M. F., A. F. and A. M. (negro), 

ship, New York. St. Louis, Mo. 

Cowen, Thomas B., College Fraternities, Fowler, George W., Ancient Order of L T nited 

Williamstown, Mass. "Workmen, Detroit. Mich. 

Cruett, John W., Improved Order of Hep- Frantzen, C. J., Royal Benefit Society, New 

tasophs, Baltimore, Md. York. 
Culbertson, William, Knights of the Golden Frost, D. M., Knights of Reciprocity, Gar- 
Eagle, Philadelphia, Pa. den City, Kan. 
Cummings, Thomas H., Catholic Knights Galami, M., A. F. and A. M., Athens, 

of Columbus, Boston, Mass. Greece. 

Daniels, William P., Order of Railway Con- Gans, William A., B'nai B'rith, New York, 

ductors, Cedar Rapids, la. N. Y. 

Dase, William H., Knights of the Red Cross, Garwood, S. S., Order of Home Builders, 

Springfield, 0. ' Philadelphia, Pa. 

Day, Fessenden I., United Order of the Gaston, Frederick, The Grand Fraternity, 

Golden Cross, Lewiston, Me. Philadelphia, Pa. 
De Leon, Daniel D., Knights of Labor, New Gerard, D. W., Tribe of Ben Hur, Craw- 
York, fordsville, Ind. 
Deyo, John H., A. F. and A. M. (negro), Gildersleeve, Charles E., Order of United 

Albany, N. Y. Americans, New York. 



PREFACE 



Glenn, G. W., Independent Order of Eecha- 
bites, Sykes, Va. 

Goodale, H. G., A. F. and A. M., Jamaica, 
Queens Co., N. Y. 

Gorman, Arthur P., A. F. and A. M., Bal- 
timore, Md. 

Graham, Eev. George S., Order of Iron 
Hall, Philadelphia, Pa. 

Gretzinger, William C, College Fraternities, 
Lewisburg, Pa. 

Griest, W. C, The United States Benefit 
Fraternity, Baltimore, Md. 

Grififin, Martin I. J., Irish Catholic Benev- 
olent Union, Philadelphia, Pa. 

Gross, F. W., United Brothers in Friend- 
ship, Victoria., Tex. 

Gwinnell, John M., American Legion of 
Honor, Newark, N. J. 

Hahne, Irvin A., Independent Order of 
Mechanics, Philadelphia, Pa. 

Hamilton, W. E., A. F. and A. M., Car- 
thage, 111. 

Hammer, H. H., Adjutant General, Sons 
of Veterans, U. S. A., Eeading, Pa. 

Harburger, Julius, Independent Order, 
Free Sons of Israel, New York. 

Harper, G. S., Order of the World, Wheel- 
ing, W. Va. 

Harrison, H. Leslie, Knights of St. John 
and Malta, New York. 

Harte, H. M., Knights of Honor, New York. 

Hassewell, J. N., Patriotic Order, Sons of 
America, Scranton, Pa. 

Hayes, John W., Knights of Labor, Phila- 
delphia, Pa. 

Heller, S. M., Home Palladium, Kansas 
City, Mo. 

Hennessy, J. C, National Eeserve Associa- 
tion, Kansas City, Mo. 

Henry, William, Order of Amaranth, De- 
troit, Mich. 

Herman, L., Ahavas Israel, New York. 

Herriford, Joseph E., International Order 
of Twelve, Chillicothe, Mo. 

Hibben, E. H., Northern Fraternal Insur- 
ance Association, Marshalltown, la. 

Hinckley, George C, College Fraternities, 
Providence, E. I. 



Hitt, George C, Order of Iron Hall, In- 
dianapolis, Ind. 

Holden, S. F., Knights and Ladies of 
America, New York. 

Holman, Oliver D., Order of United 
Friends, New York. 

Holmes, M. B., Ancient Order of Hiber- 
nians, New York. 

Hopkins, A. W., International Order of 
Twelve, Leavenworth, Kan. 

Hucless, Eobert, A. F. and A. M. (negro), 
New York. 

Hughes, James L., The Loyal Orange As- 
sociation, Toronto, Ont. 

Irving, E. B., A. F. and A. M. (negro), 
Albany, N. Y. 

Jackson, Thornton A., A. F. and A. M. 
(negro), Washington, D. C. 

Jones, C. C, Adjutant-General, G. A. E., 
Eockford, 111. 

Jones, Charles E., Order of Equity, In- 
dianapolis, Ind. 

Johnston, John G., Order of Pente, Phila- 
delphia, Pa. 

Johnston, Thomas E., Order of Knights of 
Friendship, Philadelphia, Pa. 

Keliher, Sylvester, American Eailway 
Union, Chicago, 111. 

Kimpton, Carl W., Order of Unity, Phila- 
delphia, Pa. 

King, Charles M., Benevolent and Protec- 
tive Order of Elks, Paterson, N. J. 

Kittrell, L. A., Knights of Pythias (ne- 
gro), Macon, Ga. 

Krape, William W., Knights of the Globe, 
Freeport, 111. 

Kuhn, John E., Catholic Benevolent Le- 
gion, Brooklyn, N. Y. 

Lamb, E. F., Order of United Friends of 
Michigan, Flint, Mich. 

Lander, W. F., Knights and Ladies of 
Azar, Chicago, 111. . 

Laurence, E. D., A. F. and A. M., Spring- 
field, 111. 

Lawler, Thomas G., G. A. E., Eockford, 
111. 

Lawrence, G. E., National Farmers' Al- 
liance, Marion, 0. 



PREFACE Xi 

Leahy, John P., Union Fraternal Alliance, Mann, Dr. D. H., Independent Order G-ood 

Boston, Mass. Templars, Brooklyn, N. Y. 

Leahy, Thomas, A. F. and A. M., Roch- Markey, D. P., Knights of the Maccabees, 

ester, N. Y. Port Huron, Mich. 

Lee, J. P., St. Patrick's Alliance of Anier- Mason, E. C, Royal Tribe of Joseph, Se- 

ica, Orange, N. J. dalia, Mo. 
Leisersohn, Leonard, B'rith Abraham, New Mason, Joseph, Foresters of America, Pat- 
York, erson, N". J. 
Lenbert, J. G., Grand United Order of Mason, J. J., A. F. and A. M., Hamilton, 

Odd Fellows (negro), New York. Ont. 

Lerch, George L., College Fraternities, Mason, J. W., Protected Home Circle, 

Clinton, N. Y. Sharon, Pa. 

Levy, Ferdinand, Sons of Benjamin, New Maulsby, D. L., College Fraternities, Tufts 

York. College, Massachusetts. 

Levy, Magnus, Independent Order of Amer- May, William H., Jr., A. F. and A. M., 

ican Israelites, New York. Washington, D. C. 

Lockard, L. B., Knights and Ladies of Mendenhall, B., A. F. and A. M., Dallas 

Honor, Bradford, Pa. City, 111. 

Loewenstein, E., A. F. and A. M., New Mills, A. G., Military Order of Loyal Le- 

York. gion? New York. 

Lunstedt, Henry, Native Sons of the Gold- Miner, S. L., National Fraternal Union, 

en West, San Francisco, Cal. Cincinnati, 0. 

Luthin, Otto L. F., Royal Society of Good Mitchell, C. W., Knights of the Golden 

Fellows, Boston, Mass. Eagle, Mansfield, 0. f 

Lyon, D. Murray, A. F. and A. M., Edin- Monahan. James. Irish National Order of 

burgh, Scotland. Foresters, New York. 

McCarroll, F. Liberty, Shepherds of Beth- Moore, E. T., College Fraternities, Swath- 

lehem, Newark, N. J. more College, Swath more, Pa. 

McClenachan, Charles T., A. F. and A. M., Moore, R. B v A. F. and A. M., Elizabeth, 

New York. X. J. 

McClintock, E. S., Ancient Order of the Moorman, Gen. George, United Confed- 

Pyramids, Topeka, Kan. erate Veterans, New Orleans, La. 

McClurg, John, Jr., Templars of Liberty Morse, H. H., Order of Chosen Friends, 

of America, New York. New York. 
McLaughlin, James J.. Massachusetts Mott, J. Lawrence, Workmen's Benefit So- 
Catholic Order of Foresters, Boston. ciety, Boston, Mass. 
McLean, Alexander, Illinois Order of Mu- Mott, Dr. Valentine, A. F. and A. M., New 

tual Aid, Macomb, 111. York. 

Mackery, L., A. F. and A. M., Edinburgh, Mulford, John M., American Insurance 

Scotland. Union, Columbus, 0. 

Magill, Joseph R., Grand United Order of Mull, George F., College Fraternities, 

Odd Fellows (negro), New York. Franklin and Marshall, Lancaster, Pa. 

Mahoney, John R., Independent Order of Mulligan, John, Knights of Honor, Yon- 

Rechabites, Washington, D. C. kers, N. Y 

Malcolm, Samuel L., Order of United Mulligan, Ralph R., Knights of Honor, 

Friends, New York. Yonkers, N. Y. 

Mallard, Rev. Robert Q., College Fraterni- Mundie, P. J., National Union of Iron and 

ties, New Orleans, La. Steel Workers, Youngstown, 0. 



Xll 



PREFACE 



Munger, Frank E., Empire Knights of Be- 
lief, Buffalo, N. Y. 

Myers, Allen 0., Benevolent and Protective 
Order of Elks, Cincinnati, 0. 

Myrick, Herbert, Patrons of Industry, 
Springfield, Mass. 

Nason, Edwin H., Shield of Honor, Phila- 
delphia, Pa, 

Needham, James F., Grand United Order 
of Odd Fellows (negro), Philadelphia. 

Nichols, John, Templars of Liberty, New 
York. 

Nicholson, General John P., Military Or- 
der of Loyal Legion, Philadelphia, Pa. 

Nicholson, James B., Independent Order of 
Odd Fellows, Philadelphia, Pa. 

Nielsen, Eennus, A. F. and A. M., Copen- 
hagen, Denmark. 

Nisbet, Michael, A. F. and A. M., Phila- 
delphia, Pa. 

Noeckel, A. G., The Columbus Mutual 
Benefit Association, Philadelphia, Pa. 

Northcott, William A., Modern Woodmen 

% of America, Greenville, 111. 

Oakes, Henry W., New England Order of 
Protection, Auburn, Me. 

O'Connell, James, International Associa- 
tion of Machinists, Eichmond, Ya. 

O'Connor, P. J., Ancient Order of Hiber- 
nians, Savannah, Ga. 

Oddi, J. S., A. F. and A. M., Alexandria, 
Egypt. 

Oliver, Edward, Order of Sons of St. George, 
San Francisco, Cal. 

Oronhyatekha, Dr., Independent Order of 
Foresters, Toronto, Ont. 

O'Rourke, William, Catholic Knights of 
America, Fort Wayne, Ind. 

Palmer, Alanson, Eclectic Assembly, Brad- 
ford, Pa. 

Palmer, George W., Templars of Liberty, 
Brooklyn, N. Y. 

Pancoast, E. H., Shield of Honor, Phila- 
delphia, Pa. 

Parker, B. F., Independent Order of Good 
Templars, Milwaukee, Wis. 

Paton, Andrew H., Improved Order of Red 
Men, Dan vers, Mass. 



Pearson, A. L., Union Veterans' Legion, 
Pittsburg, Pa. 

Peckinpaugh, Thomas E., Improved Order 
of Red Men, Cleveland, 0. 

Pellin, J. F., A. F. and A. M., Havana, 
Cuba. 

Perkins, E. C, Iron Hall, Baltimore, 
Md. 

Perry, John A., A. F. and A. M., Phila- 
delphia, Pa. 

Peters, A. C, A. F. and A. M. (negro), 
Newark, N. J. 

Petter, Frank S., Loyal Additional Benefit 
Association, Jersey City, N. J. 

Phillips, Rev. E. S., Ancient Order of Hi- 
bernians, Plains, Pa. 

Popper, H., Independent Order Free Sons 
of Judah, New York. 

Porter, E. H., College Fraternities, Beloit, 
Wis. 

Post, August, National Farmers' Alliance, 
Moulton, la. 

Powell, J. B. R., Modern Knights Fidelity 
League, Kansas City, Kan. 

Powell, M. V., Order of Railway Teleg- 
raphers, Vinton, la. 

Presson, G. S., A. F. and A. M., Berne, 
Switzerland. 

Ramsey, Walter M., College Fraternities, 
Lafayette, Ind. 

Ray, Peter S., M.D., A. F. and A. M. 
(negro), Brooklyn, N. Y. 

Reeve, S. Lansing, D.D., American Patriotic 
League, Brooklyn, N. Y. 

Reynolds, Walter D., Sexennial League, 
Philadelphia, Pa. 

Ridings, C. C, Patriarchal Circle of Amer- 
ica, Morris, 111. 

Riesenberger, A., College Fraternities, Ste- 
vens Institute, Hoboken, N. J. 

Robinson, Charles H., Order of iEgis, Bal- 
timore, Md. 

Robinson, W. A., College Fraternities, 
Bethlehem, Pa. 

Rodrigues, Francesco de P., A. F. and 
A. M., Havana, Colon. 

Ronemus, Frank L., Brotherhood of Rail- 
way Carmen, Cedar Rapids, la. 



PREFACE xiii 

Roose, F. F., Fraternal Union of America, Simons, W. N., Order of United American 
Denver, Colo. Mechanics, Norwalk, Conn. 

Eoot, C. J., Woodmen of the World, Slattery, M. J., Ancient Order of Hiber- 
Omaha, Neb. nians, Albany, N. Y. 

Kosenthal, B., Independent Order Free Smalley, Frank, College Fraternities, Syra- 
Sons of Judah, New York. cnse University, Syracuse, N. Y. 

Kosenthal, Henry, Improved Order, Smith, Adon, Veiled Prophets of the En- 
Knights of Pythias, Evansville, Ind. chanted Realm, New York. 

Rosenthal, Morris, Kesher Shel Barzel, Smith, D. P., Order of United Friends of 
New York. Michigan, Detroit, Mich. 

Ross, James C, Knights of Pythias (negro), Smith, George K., Concatenated Order of 
Savannah, Ga. Hoo-Hoo, St. Louis, Mo. 

Ross, Theodore A., Independent Order of Smith, General John C, A. F. and A. M., 
Odd Fellows, Baltimore, Md. Chicago, 111. 

Rousell, Edward, Fraternal Aid Associa- Smith, T. J., Knights of the Golden Rule, 
tion, Lawrence, Kan. Cincinnati, 0. 

Rugh, W. J., Ancient and Illustrious Order Smith, W. J., American Glass Makers' 
Knights of Malta, Pittsburg, Pa. Union, Pittsburg, Pa. 

Russell, William T., A. F. and A. M., Bal- Speelman, H. V., Adjutant-General, Sons 
timore, Md. of Veterans, U. S. A., Cincinnati, 0. 

Sanders, James P., Independent Order of Speth, G. W., A. F. and A. M., Bromley, 
Odd Fellows, Yonkers, N. Y. Kent, England. 

Sanderson, Percy, Order of Sons of St. Spooner, W. R., Royal Society of Good Fel- 
George, New York. lows, New York. 

Sargent, F. P., Brotherhood of Locomotive Stead, T. Ballan, Ancient Order of Fores- 
Firemen, Peoria, 111. ters, England. 

Saunders, T. W., Independent Order of Stearns, John B., College Fraternities, Bur- 
Foresters of Illinois, Chicago, 111. lington, Vt. 

Schaale, Charles F., Patriotic Order of Stebbins, John W., Independent Order of 
America, St. Louis, Mo. Odd Fellows, Rochester, N. Y. 

Schord, Louis G., United Ancient Order of Stees, F. E., Patriotic Order Sons of Amer- 
Druids, San Francisco, Gal. ica, Philadelphia, Pa. 

Scott, George, A. F. and A. M., New Stephenson, Mary II., G. A. R., Peters- 
York, burg, 111. 

Scott, George A., National Protective Le- Stevens, D. E., Order of the Fraternal Mys- 
gion, Waverly, N. Y. tic Circle, Philadelphia, Pa. 

Scottron, S. R., A. F. and A. M. (negro), Stevenson, A. E., Independent Order of 
Brooklyn, N. Y. Foresters, Chicago, 111. 

Sears, John M., Independent and Interna- Steward, C. C, Grand United Order of 
tional Order of Owls, Nashville, Tenn. Galilean Fishermen, Bristol, Tenn. 

Sendersen, W. C, College Fraternities, Stewart, James F., Indian Republican 
Gambier, 0. League, Paterson, N. J. 

Server, John, Order of United American St. George, Archibald, A. F. and A. M., 
Mechanics, Philadelphia, Pa. Dublin, Ireland. 

Shipp, J. F., United Confederate Veterans, Stolts, William A., United Order of For- 
Chattanooga, Tenn. esters, Chicago, 111. 

Shirrefs, R. A., A. F. and A. M., Eliza- Stowell, C. L., A. F. and A. M., Rochester^ 
beth, N. J. N. Y. 



PREFACE 



Stringham, LeRoy M., Templars of Honor 
and Temperance, Ripley, N. Y. 

Stubbs, T. J., College Fraternities, Wil- 
liamsburg, Va. 

Suleb, M., A. F. and A. M., Cairo, Egypt. 

Sullavou, Emanuel, A. F. and A. M. (ne- 
gro), New Bedford, Mass. 

Sullivan, B. Frank, Order of Heptasophs, 
or S. W. M., Wilmington, Del. 

Sullivan, Timothy F., Catholic Knights of 
Columbus, Boston, Mass. 

Taylor, Harold, Order of Iron Hall, Indian- 
apolis, Ind. 

Taylor, W. R., Molly Maguires, Pittsburg, Pa. 

Terrell, George, College Fraternities, Mid- 
dletown, Conn. 

Thiele, Theodore B., Catholic Order of For- 
esters, Chicago, 111. 

Thompson, J. W., Knights of Pythias, 
Washington, D. C. 

Tipper, F. S., Jr., Order of United Ameri- 
can Mechanics, Stamford, Conn. 

Titcomb, Virginia C, Patriotic League of 
the Revolution, Brooklyn. 

Todd, Quinton, Knights of Birmingham, 
Philadelphia, Pa. 

Tompkins, Uriah W\, Home Circle, New 
York. 

Toomey, D. P., Catholic Knights of Colum- 
bus, Boston, Mass. 

Trimble, John, Patrons of Husbandry, 
Washington, D. C. 

Troutman, Charles E., Union Veterans' 
Legion, Washington, D. C. 

Tyler, C. W., Jr., Order United American 
Mechanics, Richmond, Va. 

Underhill, C. F., Royal Fraternity, Minne- 
apolis, Minn. 

Unverzagt, C. H., National Fraternal Alli- 
ance, Baltimore, Md. 

Upson, Irving S., College Fraternities, 
New Brunswick, N. J. 

Vertican, F. W., Patrons of Industry, Port 
Huron, Mich. 

Waite, G. Harry, Knights of the Mystic 
Chain, Port Dickinson, N. Y. 

Walkinshaw, L. C, College Fraternities, 
Lewisburg, Pa. 



Wallace, Colonel R. Bruce, Union Veterans' 
Legion, Philadelphia, Pa. 

Watkins, James S., Improved Order of 
Heptasophs, Baltimore, Md. 

Weatherbee, J., Order of Railway Teleg- 
raphers, Vinton, la. 

Weeks, Joseph D., A. F. and A. M., Pitts- 
burg, Pa. 

Weihe, William, Amalgamated Association, 
Iron and Steel Workers, Pittsburg, Pa. 

Wende, Ernest, M.D., Order of the Iro- 
quois, Buffalo, N. Y. 

White, R. L. C, Knights of Pythias, Nash- 
ville, Tenn. 

Wilson, J. W., National Farmers' Alliance, 
Chicago, 111. 

Wilson, W. H., Knights of ' Birmingham, 
Philadelphia, Pa. 

Wilson, W. Warne, Columbian League, De- 
troit, Mich. 

W^ood, C. B., Knights of the Golden Eagle, 
Philadelphia, Pa. 

Wood, E. 0., Knights of the Loyal Guard, 
Flint, Mich. 

Woodruff, C. S., Templars of Honor and 
Temperance, Newark, N. J. 

Woodward, Rev. C. S., Temple of Honor, 
Newark, N. J. 

Woolsey, George F., United Order of For- 
esters, St. Paul, Minn. 

Wright, George W., Order of Heptasophs, 
or S. W. M., Norfolk, Va. 

Wright, William B., Modern American 
Fraternal Order, Effingham, 111. 

Young, James, Knights of the Golden 
Eagle, Baltimore, Md. 

Where the origin of so many fraternities 
has been largely or in part obscured through 
the want of voluntary chroniclers, and some- 
times by reason of the emphasis placed on 
the legendary accounts of their beginnings, 
it has often been difficult to arrive at all the 
facts. The search for truth, however, has 
been conducted without bias, in an honest 
endeavor to collate as much as possible of 
that which may be known concerning this 
interesting phase of social life. 



INTRODUCTION 



Very few among the six million members 
of nearly three hundred secret societies, 
fraternities, and sisterhoods in the United 
States are familiar with the origin, history, 
or function of these organizations. This 
has been noted by the eminent English Ma- 
sonic historian, Robert F. Gould, who, on 
page 157, vol. ii., of his "History of Free- 
masonry," says: " The members of a secret 
society are rarely conversant with its origin 
and history." Many have a fair knowledge 
of the extent, membership, and the more 
immediate objects of the societies to which 
they belong; but the real histories of the 
origin and development of many of the older 
organizations have so often been enveloped 
in mystery, or founded on mythical inci- 
dents, or traditions, that the average mem- 
ber, unless particularly interested and will- 
ing to devote time and study to the task, 
seldom becomes a trustworthy source of in- 
formation as to the fraternity of which he 
may be a conspicuous and honored repre- 
sentative. 

Lengthy and exhaustive histories of some 
of the older and larger secret societies in 
the United States have been published, but 
most of them are expensive and require 
time and study to enable the reader to be- 
come familiar with the details of their con- 
tents. In the rush of our latter-day civili- 
zation, the busy citizen finds little time to 
pore over the wealth of incident with which 
such works properly abound. It has, there- 
fore, remained for the few to know of that 
which the many have been struggling to 
accomplish, to learn whence they came and 
whither travelling. 

Few who are well informed on the subject 
will deny that the Masonic Fraternity is 
directly or indirectly the parent organiza- 
tion of all modern secret societies, good, 
bad, and indifferent; but fewer still are able 
to explain why or how. Those who have an 



intelligent idea of the relationship of the 
hundreds of secret societies which have left 
an impress upon American sociological de- 
velopment in the eighteenth and nineteenth 
centuries, may be numbered on the fingers 
of one hand, if indeed there are as many as 
that; and it is in order to remedy this, to 
place it within the reach of practically every 
member of every secret society to familiar- 
ize himself with these important particulars, 
that the task of compiling the Cyclopedia 
of Fraternities was begun. The impor- 
tance of such a work may hardly be over- 
estimated, including, as it does, prolonged 
original investigation of hundreds of tradi- 
tions and chronicles of many organizations; 
the examination of all of the best and many 
other official or authoritative historical and 
other publications; and last, but not least, 
the enlistment of the cooperation of hun- 
dreds of the best-mformed members of 
nearly all existing and some extinct secret 
societies, to the end that little if anything 
may remain undone to present, in proper 
perspective, a panoramic view of the secret 
society world in America, which will pre- 
serve the sequence and relationship of such 
organizations. 

When it is known that more than 200,000 
candidates for membership are initiated 
every year into American secret fraterni- 
ties and sisterhoods, 30,000 alone into the 
Masonic Fraternity, and as many more into 
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of 
whom, as a rule, 60 per cent, become more 
or less active members, the need for a com- 
prehensive work which will present the im- 
portant facts concerning all secret societies 
from a universal point of view becomes 
apparent. 

Notwithstanding the century's extraordi- 
nary development in agriculture, commerce, 
manufactures, in the arts, in the dissemi- 
nation of intelligence, in the machinery of 



XVI 



INTRODUCTION 



finance, and in good government, interest 
in the older and better types of secret soci- 
eties has grown with even greater rapidity, 
if one may judge from the increase in mem- 
bership and prosperity. This may come in 
the nature of a surprise to many who know 
little of the extent or importance of the 
secret society world, and it gathers inter- 
est for every student of mankind in that it 
suggests an inquiry into the cause of this 
attraction, and raises the question whether 
the mystical side to our natures has not ex- 
panded relatively more rapidly than that 
which looks mainly to material comfort. 

Daring the seventeenth century the specu- 
lative successors to the ancient English 
operative Freemasons added to their symbol- 
ism, drawn from the workingmen's guilds 
of the middle ages, many of the character- 
istics of the older religious and mystical 
societies. Thus, there may be found in 
modern Freemasonry traces of the Egyp- 
tian, Eleusinian, Mithraic, Adoniac, Cabi- 
ric, and Druidic Mysteries, all of which, 
when undefiled, taught purity, immortality, 
and the existence of an ever-living and true 
God. Their ceremonials were divided into 
degrees in which were conferred secret 
means of recognition, and each had a 
legend which, by dramatic representation, 
impressed upon the novitiate the lesson that 
the way to life is by death. Masonic sym- 
bolism and ceremonials show also the influ- 
ence of the teachings of the Gnostics, the 
Kabbalists, Pythagoreans, Druses, Mani- 
cheans, and the earlier Rosicrucians. It 
was between 1723 and 1740 that the parent 
modern secret society spread from England 
throughout Europe and into the British 
colonies. After the American War of the 
Revolution it became, with one or two 
political secret societies founded by Free- 
masons, the direct or indirect source of all 
secret societies formed in America since 
that time. With a few exceptions, the like 
is true concerning secret societies in Europe 
formed since 1740. 

One hundred years ago there were about 



twenty-five hundred Freemasons in the 
United States, perhaps five hundred mem- 
bers of the St. Tammany (patriotic) secret 
societies, and the few scattered members 
of Phi Beta Kappa at Yale, Harvard, and 
Dartmouth Colleges. The Cyclopedia of 
Fraternities traces more than six hun- 
dred secret societies in the United States 
since 1797, of which more than three hun- 
dred and fifty survive, with a membership 
amounting to 40 per cent, of the present 
male population of the country who are 
twenty-one years of age, in contrast with 
less than one-quarter of 1 per cent, of the 
adult male population who were members 
of secret fraternities one hundred years ago. 

MASONIC BODIES. 

American Rite: Lodges, Chapters, Councils, and 
Commanderies. 

Scottish Rite : Grand Lodges of Perfection, Coun- 
cils, Chapters, Consistories, and Supreme Coun- 
cils. 

Concordant Orders : Royal Order of Scotland ; 
Knights of the Red Cross of Constantine. 

Non-3Iasonic Bodies to which only Freemasons are 
Eligible : Modern Society of Rosicrucians ; Sov- 
ereign College of Allied Masonic Degrees ; An- 
cient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic 
Shrine ; Mystic Order, Veiled Prophets of the 
Enchanted Realm ; Independent, International 
Order of Owls, and the ''side degree/' Tall 
Cedars of Lebanon. 

Dead or Dormant : Rite of Memphis ; Oriental Rite 
of Memphis and Misraim ; Rite of Swedenborg ; 
• Order of Martinists. 

Irregular or Spurious Masonic Bodies : 1. Amer- 
ican and "Scottish Rite" bodies among ne- 
groes ; 2. Cerneau and Seymour-Cerneau 
"Scottish Rite" bodies. 

Also, Clandestine Masonic Lodges ; Society of the 
Illuminati and the Covenant ; Freemasonry 
among the Early Mormons ; Chinese Freema- 
sonry in America ; Freemasonry among Amer- 
ican Negroes ; Anti-Masonry at Home and 
Abroad; Statistics of Freemasonry, and a list 
of Distinguished Americans who are or were 
Freemasons. 

Various American Military Orders and 
secret societies, followed by Colonial and 
Ancestral Orders, take their inspiration 
from the Societv of the Cincinnati, founded 




CHART SHOWING RELATIVE SIZE OF VARIOUS INTERNATIONAL SECRET SOCIETIES. 



xvm 



INTRODUCTION 



in 1783 by prominent American officers of 
the War of the Revolution, nearly if not 
all of whom were Freemasons. 

MILITARY ORDERS AND SOCIETIES. 

Society of the Cincinnati (War of Revolution). 

Military Order of the Loyal Legion. 

Grand Army of the Republic. 

Sons of Veterans. 

Union Veteran Legion. 

Women's Relief Corps. 

Ladies of the Grand Army of the Republic. 

Aid Society of the Sons of Veterans. 

Auxiliary to the Union Veteran Legion. 

Loyal Ladies' League. 

Soldiers' and Sailors' League. 

Advance Guard of America, or Grand Army of 

Progress, and 
United Confederate Veterans. 

The Sons of Liberty, composed largely 
of and generally officered by Freemasons, 
appeared before the War of the Revolution, 
and was succeeded by the Sons of St. 
Tamina and St. Tammany Societies, and 
the latter in 1813 by the Society of Red 
Men. The Improved Order of Red Men 
(1834) was a further outgrowth, but with 
charitable and benevolent rather than po- 
litical features. 

PATRIOTIC AND POLITICAL ORDERS. 

Sons of Liberty. 
Sons of St. Tamina. 

* Tammany Society, or Columbian Order. 
Society of Red Men. 

* Order United American Mechanics. 

* Junior Order United American Mechanics. 
Sons of '76 ; Order Star Spangled Banner (Know- 

Nothing Party). 

* Patriotic Order Sons of America. 

* Patriotic Daughters of America. 
Order of True Americans. 

* Daughters of Liberty. 

* Daughters of America. 
United Sons of America. 

* Junior Sons of America. 

* Brotherhood of the Union. 
Patriotic Order of True Americans. 
American Knights. 

Order United Americans. 

Templars. 

Order of American Star. 

Free and Accepted Americans. 

Order Native Americans. 



The Crescent. 

National Order of Videttes. 
Order of Red, White, and Blue. 
Loyal Men of American Liberty. 
Sons of the Soil. 

* American Protestant Association. 

* Junior American Protestant Association. 
Loyal Knights of America. 

Order of American Freemen. 
Benevolent Order of Bereans. 
Guards of Liberty. 

* American Protective Association (A. P. A.). 

* Women's Historical Society. 

* Junior American Protective Association. 

* Constitutional Reform Club. 

* National Assembly, Patriotic League. 

* Order Little Red School House. 

* American Patriotic League. 

* Daughters of Columbia. 

* Order of American Union. 
Order of American Shield. 

* United Order of Deputies. 
Minute Men of 1890. 

* Knights of Reciprocity. 

* American Knights of Protection. 

* Templars of Liberty. 

* Patriots of America. 

* Daughters of the Republic. 

* Silver Knights of America, and 

* Silver Ladies of America. 

* Patriotic League of the Revolution. 
Indian Republican League. 

Sons of Liberty (2d). 

* Loyal Women of American Liberty. 
Freemen's Protective Silver Federation. 
Minute Men of '96. 

Ladies of Abraham Lincoln. 
*Lady True Blues of the World (Orange). 

* Protestant Knights of America. 

* Loyal Orange Institution. 

* Women's Loyal Orange Association. 

* Royal Black Knights of the Camp of Israel. 

* National Farmers' Alliance. 

* Order of the Mystic Brotherhood. 

* American Order United Catholics (anti-A. P. A.). 

The germ of American patriotic and po- 
litical secret societies may be traced to 
the Loyal Orange Institution, founded in 
Ireland in 1795. The latter had Masonic 
antecedents, and for a few years had 
the cooperation of individual Freemasons. 
Its cardinal principle was, and is, loyalty 

* Societies marked with an asterisk are still in 
existence. 



INTRODUCTION 



XIX 



to the occupants of the British throne and 
opposition to the Roman Catholic Church. 
It did not appear in the United States as an 
organization until 1870, but Orangeism did, 
and the members of earlier American patri- 
otic secret societies (1840-1855) were pro- 
nounced "Native Americans'' and anti- 
Roman Catholic. The Orders of United 
American Mechanics (Senior and Junior),, 
Sons of America, Brotherhood of the Union, . 
American Protestant Association, the Know- 
Nothing party (Order of the Star Spangled 
Banner), and others, were conspicuous dur- 
ing the period referred to, and all, except 
the Know-Nothing party, exist to-day, with 
others spreading into the American Pro- 
tective Association movement, which has 
been conspicuous in American politics. 

American college secret societies, better 
known as Greek letter fraternities, have an 
indirect connection with the high grades of 
Freemasonry which were elaborated in the 
eighteenth century, and in some instances a 
more direct inspiration from the parent 
secret society. They constitute a social and 
literary aristocracy. There are nearly thirty 
important ones, and twice as many more of 
consequence. Nearly all have Greek letter 
titles, usually the initials of a motto. Phi 
Beta Kappa, the oldest, was founded at the 
College of William and Mary, Virginia, in 
1776, whence it was taken to Yale and 
Harvard, and thence to other colleges. Rival 
Greek letter fraternities did not begin to 
appear until 1825, since which time they 
have multiplied rapidly. Rivalry between 
them is keen, and college social life is char- 
acterized according as a student is a mem- 
ber of one or another, or of none of them. 
Many of the best-known names in the pro- 
fessions, in literature and in political life, 
may be found in the lists of college alumni, 
members of these fraternities. 

COLLEGE GREEK LETTER AND OTHER 

FRATERNITIES. 
Phi Beta Kappa (founded at William and Mary). 
Chi Delta Theta (Yale). 
Chi Phi (Princeton). 



Kappa Alpha (Union). 

Sigma Phi (Union). 

Delta Phi (Union). 

I. K. A. (Trinity). 

Alpha Delta Phi (Hamilton). 
' Skull and Bones (local, Yale). 

Psi L'psilon (Union). 
* ' ' Mystical 7 " (Wesleyan). 

Beta Theta Pi (Miami). 

Chi Psi (Union). 

Scroll and Key (local, Yale). 
*"The Rainbow" (Univ. Mississippi). 

Delta Kappa Epsilon (Yale). 

Zeta Psi (Univ. Y ew York). 

Delta Psi (Columbia). 

Theta Delta Chi (Union). 

Phi Gamma Delta (Wash, and Jefferson). 

Phi Delta Theta (Miami). 

Phi Kappa Sigma (Univ. Pennsylvania). 

Phi Kappa Psi (Jeff., Pennsylvania). 

Chi Phi (Princeton). 

Sigma Chi (Miami). 

Sigma Alpha Epsilon (Univ. Alabama). 

Chi Phi (Univ. North Carolina). 

Chi Phi (Hobart). 

Delta Tau Delta (Bethany). 

Alpha Tau Omega (Virginia Mil. Inst.). 

Kappa Alpha, Southern (Washington-Lee). 

Kappa Sigma (Univ. Virginia). 

Pi Kappa Alpha (Univ. Virginia). 

Sigma Xu (Virginia Mil. Inst.). 

Wolfs Bead (Yale). 

Local Greek Letter, and other College Societies: 
Phi Xu Theta (Wesleyan) : Kappa Kappa 
Kappa (Dartmouth); Delta Psi (2d) (Univ. 
Yt.) : Alpha Sigma Pi (Univ. Vt.); Alpha 
Sigma Phi (Marietta) ; He Boule (Soph. Soc. 
Yale); Eta Phi (Soph. Soc. Yale); Lambda 
Iota (Univ. Yt.). 

Professional : Alpha Chi Omega (music) ; Phi 
Alpha Sigma (medicine) ; Phi Delta Phi (law) ; 
Phi Sigma Kappa (medicine) ; Nu Sigma Xu 
(medicine) ; Q. T. Y. (agriculture). 

Scientific: Berzelius ( Yale) ; Phi Zeta Mu (Dart- 
mouth) ; Theta XI ; Sigma Delta Chi (Yale). 

^Yolne)Vs Societies: Alpha Beta Tau : Alpha Phi ; 
Kappa Alpha Theta ; Beta Sigma Omicron ; 
Gamma Phi Beta ; Delta Gamma ; Delta Delta 
Delta ; Kappa Kappa Gamma : P. E. 0. ; 
Sigma Kappa ; Pi Beta Phi. 

\ Honorary : Sigma Chi (local, Cornell) 

* Extinct. 

f Also Chi Delta Theta (local, Yale), previously 
named. 



XX 



INTRODUCTION 



Extinct: Alpha Sigma Theta ; Delta Beta Xi ; 

Delta Kappa (freshman) ; Kappa Sigma Epsilon 

(freshman) ; Kappa Sigma Phi (sophomore) ; 

Phi Theta Psi, all local Yale societies. 
Non-Secret : Delta Upsilon (Williams) ; Gamma Nu 

(local, Yale, extinct). 

The earlier offspring of the Masonic Fra- 
ternity included the Odd Fellows (England), 
1739 ; Druids, 1761; and the Foresters, 
1780, " friendly" societies, with Masonic 
thumbmarks on their rituals and in their 
ceremonials, but differing in that their 
primary purposes were to pay to members 
specified sick, disability, funeral, and other 
benefits. They are conspicuous among hun- 
dreds of other English friendly societies, 
and are the forerunners of the American in- 
surance or secret beneficiary societies, of 
which there are more than one hundred and 
fifty. The Odd Fellows were introduced 
into the United States in 1819, the Forest- 
ers in 1834 (later in 1864), and the Druids 
about 1839. The Improved Order of Ke& 
Men, already referred to, is the oldest 
friendly society of American origin. The 
B'nai B'rith, a Hebrew friendly or relief so- 
ciety, was formed at New York city in 1843, 
and has several followers. 

BENEVOLENT OR " FRIENDLY" 
SOCIETIES. 

Independent Order of Odd Fellows. 

Improved Order of Red Men. 

Ancient Order of Foresters. 

Foresters of America. 

Knights of Pythias. 

Grand United Order of Odd Fellows (negro). 

United Ancient Order of Druids. 

Ancient Order of Hibernians. 

Irish National Order of Foresters. 

Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. 

Sons of Herman. 

German Order of Harugari. 

Ancient and Illustrious Order, Knights of Malta. 

Actors Order of Friendship. 

Concatenated Order of Hoo Hoo. 

Artisans' Mutual Order of Protection. 

Order of St. George. 

Order of Scottish Clans. 

Order of the World. 

Order of Sanhedrim. 

Ancient Essenic Order. 



Knights of Pythias of North and South America, 
Europe, Asia, and Africa (negro). 

* Total Abstinence Friendly Societies : Independent 
Order of Rechabites ; Sons of Temperance ; 
Independent Order of Good Templars ; Royal 
Templars of Temperance ; Independent Order 
of Good Samaritans (negro), and others. 

The Ancient Order of United Workmen, 
founded in Pennsylvania by a Freemason 
just after the Civil War, is the original 
mutual assessment beneficiary (protection in 
the nature of insurance) secret society, and 
has had many successful imitators. The 
total membership of these organizations is 
about 2,000,000, the aggregate protection 
is fully $4,000,000,000, and the approximate 
annual sum paid relatives of deceased mem- 
bers is about $30,000,000. The Knights 
of Pythias, formed after the Civil War, 
combines the features of both friendly and 
fche assessment beneficiary societies. Nearly 
all the twenty-five secret labor organiza- 
tions, all of which have some of the features 
of friendly society and other assessment 
beneficiary plans, were formed within a few 
years after the organization of the Knights 
of Labor, in 1868, but the older Total 
Abstinence secret societies, out of a dozen 
in that group, appeared about sixty years 
ago. 

MUTUAL ASSESSMENT FRATERNITIES. 

Ancient Order United Workmen. 
Knights of the Mystic Chain. 
Knights of Honor. 
Knights of the Golden Eagle. 
Legion of the Red Cross. 
Knights of Birmingham. 
Order of the Golden Cross. 
Knights and Ladies of Honor. 
Royal Arcanum. 
Shield of Honor. 
American Legion of Honor. 
Order of Chosen Friends. 
Order of Sparta. 
Order of the Red Cross. 
United Order Pilgrim Fathers. 
Iowa Legion of Honor. 
Home Circle. 

*In some instances with assessment beneficiary 
features. 



INTRODUCTION 



XXI 



Modern Woodmen of America. 

Modern Woodmen of the World. 

Home Forum Benevolent Order. 

Loyal Knights and Ladies. 

Order of United Friends. 

National Union. 

United States Benefit Fraternity. 

Protected Home Circle. 

Royal Society of Good Fellows. 

Knights of the Maccabees. 

Knights of the Golden Chain. 

Independent Order of Chosen Friends. 

Knights of the Golden Rule. 

Royal League. 

Northwestern Legion of Honor. 

Grand Fraternity. 

New England Order of Protection. 

United Fraternal League. 

Order of Unity. 

Empire Knights of Relief. 

United Friends of Michigan. 

Fraternal Aid Association. 

National Protective League. 

Modern Knights Fidelity League. 

Mystic Workers of the World. 

Knights and Ladies of Security. 

Canadian Order of Chosen Friends. 

National Fraternity. 

Tribe of Ben Hur. 

Columbus League. 

Order of Iroquois. 

Prudent Patricians of Pompeii. 

Home Palladium. 

Golden Star Fraternity. 

Independent Order of Foresters. 

Independent Order of Foresters of Illinois. 

Canadian Order of Foresters. 

United Order of Foresters of Minnesota. 

Pennsylvania Order of Foresters. 

Order of Heptasophs, or S. W. M. 

Improved Order of Heptasophs. 

Order of Continental Union. 

American Insurance Union. 

Independent Order Chosen Friends of Illinois. 

Chosen Friends of Canada. 

League of American German Friends. 

Order of Select Friends. 

Knights and Ladies of the Golden Star. 

Loyal Additional Benefit Association. 

Knights and Ladies of the Fireside. 

Knights of the Globe. 

Knights of Sobriety, Fidelity, and Integrity. 

Independent Order of Mechanics. 

National Reserve Association. 

Royal Tribe of Joseph. 

Order of Mutual Protection. 



National Fraternal Union. 

Fraternal Mystic Circle. 

American Benefit Society. 

Order of Star of Bethlehem. 

Knights and Ladies of the Golden Precept. 

Western Knights Protective Association. 

Light of the Ages. 

Order United Commercial Travelers. 

Fraternal Union of America. 

Ancient Order of Freesmiths. 

Improved Order Knights of Pythias. 

Patriarchal Circle of America. 

Knights of the Loyal Guard. 

Native Sons of the Golden West. 

Royal Standard of America. 

Ancient Order of Pyramids. 

Hebrew : Independent Order B'nai B'rith ; Inde- 
pendent Order Free Sons of Israel ; Order of 
B'rith Abraham ; Independent Order Sons 
of Benjamin ; Kesher Shel Barzel ; Improved 
Order B'nai B'rith ; Independent Order Sons 
of Abraham ; Free Sons of Judah ; Ahavas 
Israel ; Independent Order of American Israel- 
ites, and American Star Order. 

Roman Catholic : Catholic Benevolent Legion ; 
Knights of Columbus ; Catholic Knights of Illi- 
nois ; Catholic Order of Foresters ; Knights of 
Father Mathew ; Irish Catholic Benevolent 
Union ; Catholic Mutual Benevolent Union ; 
Catholic Women's Benevolent Legion ; St. Pat- 
rick's Alliance of America, and others. 

Negro : United Brethren of Friendship and Sisters 
of the Mysterious Ten ; International Order 
of Twelve, Knights and Daughters of Tabor ; 
Grand United Order Galilean Fishermen. 

SHORT TERM ASSESSMENT SOCIETIES. 

Progressive Endowment Guild. 

Sexennial League. 

Eclectic Assembly. 

Royal Benefit Society. 

Order of Pente. 

Order of JEgis. 

Order of Iron Hall, Baltimore City. 

Modern Order of Craftsmen. 

International Fraternal Alliance. 

Order of Home Builders. 

Columbus Mutual Benefit Association. 

Order of Equity. 

National Dotare. 

The assessment beneficiary fraternities 
and sisterhoods have a sentimental as well 
as a practical basis. In smaller cities they 



XX11 



INTRODUCTION 



usurp the club, and, where men and women 
are admitted, form centres from which 
emanates a vital social influence. Begin- 
ning about 1840, after the subsidence of the 
anti-Masonic agitation, Freemasonry in the 
United States, as in England and many 
other countries, has grown and prospered 
beyond precedent, leaving in its wake more 
than thirty occult, hermetic, theosophic, or 
religious brotherhoods or societies. The 
transplanted English friendly society finds 
congenial soil here, but is outnumbered by 
the assessment beneficiary fraternities, many 
of which admit both men and women. The 
latter variety of the 'modern secret society 
has commercialized the mechanism of older 
fraternities by carrying on a system of 
cooperative insurance in brotherhoods de- 
signed, in some instances, to advance social 
or political objects, total abstinence, cooper- 
ative buying and selling, the cultivation 
of patriotism, the protection of the interests 
of labor, and the propagation of partisan 
political views. On the whole, it has en- 
couraged the development of practical 
cooperation more, perhaps, than any other 
one influence. 

MYSTICAL AND THEOSOPHICAL. 
Order of the Omali Language. 
Temple of Isis. 
Society of Eleusis. 
Brotherhood of the West Gate. 
Order of the Magi. 
Hermetic Brothers of Luxor. 
Order of the S. S. S. and Brotherhood of Z. Z. 

R. R. Z. Z. 
Order of the Sufi. 
Brotherhood of the New Life. 
Ancient Order of Osiris. 
Esoterists of the West. 
Rochester Brotherhood. 
Order of S. E. K. 

Fifth Order of Melchizedek and Egyptian Sphinx. 
Order of the White Shrine of Jerusalem. 
Genii of Nations, Knowledge, and Religions. 
Altruistic Order of Mysteries. 

LABOR ORGANIZATIONS. 

" The International." 
Knights of Labor. 
"Triangle Club." 



"The Brotherhood." 

Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel 

Workers. 
American Flint Glass Workers' Union. 
International Association of Machinists. 
National Union of Iron and Steel Workers. 
Knights of St. Crispin. 
Order of Commercial Telegraphers. 

Railway Brotherhoods : Locomotive Engineers ; 
Conductors ; Firemen ; Telegraphers ; Train- 
men ; Switchmen ; Carmen ; American Rail- 
way Union. 

COOPERATIVE AND EDUCATIONAL. 

The Wheel. 

Patrons of Husbandry. 

Patrons of Industry. 

Sovereigns of Husbandry. 

Sovereigns of Industry. 

Brotherhood of the Cooperative Commonwealth. 

SOCIALISTIC. 

Universal Republic of the Earth. 
New Order of Builders. 
Crowned Republic. 
Commonwealth of Jesus. 
Order of the Grand Orient. 

SOCIAL AND RECREATIVE. 

Sons of Malta (extinct). 
Oriental Order of Humility. 
Sons of Adam (extinct). 
Loyal Order of Moose. 
Independent Order of Old Men. 
Sons of Idle Rest. 
The Orientals. 
Order of Woodchoppers. 
Independent Order of Gophers. 

The several law and order, Irish and 
other revolutionary societies, and various 
lawless secret associations which have been 
prominent for brief periods within the cen- 
tury, do not require extended discussion. 

REVOLUTIONARY SOCIETIES. 

Knights of the Golden Circle. 

Ku Klux Klan. 

Union League of America. 

Fenian Brotherhood. 

Clan-na-Gael. 

Knights of the Inner Circle. 

Brotherhood of United Irishmen. 

United Brotherhood. 

Irish Republican Brotherhood. 

Industrial Army. 



INTRODUCTION 



Iron Brotherhood. 

Order of Reubens (Patriot War). 

League of National Armenian Race. 

OTHERS. 

Order of Mules. The Mafia. 

Tramp "Fraternities.*' White Caps. 
The Camorra. Molly Maguires. 

Here, in democratic America, we can 
boast no Order of the Bath or Garter, no 
ribbon of the Legion of Honor or Iron 
Cross ; but there may well be reason for 
asking whether decorations of merit created 
by 100,000 or 500,000 or 1,000,000 mem- 



bers of an organization founded to alleviate 
suffering, to inculcate good morals, loyalty 
to country, and to do good unto others — 
whether such an order of merit is not as 
honorable as one created by prince or poten- 
tate who links his name with ribbon, cross, 
or wreath ? The former are the outgiv- 
ings of armies which meet in private, but 
whose purposes of benevolence and peace 
are known of all, mighty influences for the 
spread of true fraternity. They are often 
hardly less resplendent than decorations 
conferred by royalty, but are often more 
worthily bestowed. 




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ANCIENT ARABIC ORDER OF NOBLES OF THE MYSTIC SHRINE 



MASONIC, 
MYSTICAL, OCCULT, AN~D THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETIES. 



Altrurian Order of Mysteries. — Ke- 

cently organized at the South. Untraced. 
Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of 
the Mystic Shrine. — A social and benevo- 
lent society with a ritual and history linked 
to Arabic traditions, in which Oriental mys- 
ticism, names, legends, and titles are freely 
employed. It also has a secret purpose, made 
known only to those who encircle the Mystic 
Shrine. None except Masonic Knights 
Templars or those who have attained the 
thirty-second degree, Ancient and Accepted 
Scottish Eite of Freemasonry, are eligible 
to membership. It is not a Masonic Order 
and forms no part of Freemasonry, is in- 
dependent in origin and government, and 
is associated with the Craft only because 
it was established by eminent Freemasons 
and because none but Freemasons of high 
degree may become acquainted with its 
mysteries. Dr. Walter M. Fleming, 33°, 
and William J. Florence, 32°, both of New 
York, are responsible for the existence of 
" The Shrine," as the organization is fa- 
miliarly called. In a letter written by 
Mr. Florence in 1882, he explains that 
he was introduced into a meeting of the 
Order at Marseilles, France, in 1870. by 
a banker's clerk who " knew him to be a 
Mason " and could vouch for him as such, 
where he found many distinguished visi- 
tors and members who seemed absorbed in 
learning "how the French of Marseilles 
had succeeded in getting possession of such 
interesting secrets." Then follows a refer- 
ence to the ceremonies of the evening, the 
costumes, paraphernalia, and scenic effects, 
and the explanation that Yusef Bey, the 
Illustrious Potentate of Bokhara Shrine, at 
Marse lg begged for a copy of 



the laws and ritual of the Order, gave them 
to him a day or two later, when he (Flor- 
ence) sailed for Algiers. The inference is 
that the Ancient Arabic Order abroad must 
have been lax in its regulations twenty -five 
or thirty years ago, if it permitted distin- 
guished gentlemen who were not members 
of the Order to visit its Shrines, and pre- 
sented them with copies of its ritual and 
laws when they went away. Be that as it 
may, Mr. Florence went on to Algiers, 
where, he says, he visited the Shrine of the 
Mogribins and found another company of 
Arabs, bankers, merchants, learned Mo- 
hammedans, and others "who are passion- 
ately fond of perpetuating ancient customs 
which increase their social pleasures." As 
he gives no account of being initiated into 
the Ancient Arabic Order, and intimates 
that his being a Freemason was sufficient 
to gain admission to Bokhara Shrine at 
Marseilles, the letter leaves much to be de- 
sired. Other accounts of the Order add 
that Florence returned to the United States 
in 1871, and suggested to Dr. Walter M. 
Fleming that they establish "the Shrine" 
at Xew York. The latter had already 
"received detached and mutilated sections 
of a translation of the ritual," which had 
been "brought to America by a member," * 
together with some vague history and ritu- 

* The ritual now in use is stated to be "a trans- 
lation from the original Arabic" found "in the 
archives of the Order, at Aleppo," whence it was 
brought in 1860 to London by Rizk Allah Hassoon 
Effendee, and later placed in the possession of Dr. 
Fleming, to whom jurisdiction over the Order for 
America was given by the Arabic scholar named. 
In Arabia this ritual is known as the "Pillar of 
Society," and called the " Unwritten Law," in dis- 
tinction from the Koran, or "Written Law." 



ANCIENT ARABIC ORDER OF NOBLES OF THE MYSTIC SHRINE 



alistic sections brought from Cairo by Sher- 
wood C. Campbell of New York. But as 
the Florence ritual "came from Oriental 
Europe" and "was marked with certain 
sections of the Koran for notes and allu- 
sions " which facilitated revision for use in 
America, Dr. Fleming, with the assistance 
of Professor A. L. Eawson, compiled the 
work which became the foundation of the 
Order in America. Dr. Fleming recounts 
the incidents connected with organizing the 
Shrine in the United States, as follows : 

Mr. Florence was entertained as a Mason at 
Marseilles, in Bokhara Temple of the Arabic Bek- 
tash. He at this time simply witnessed the open- 
ing session of the exoteric ceremonials which char- 
acterize the politico-religious order of Bektash of 
Oriental Europe. A monitorial, historic, and ex- 
planatory manuscript he also received there. It did 
not embrace the esoteric Inner Temple exemplifica- 
tion or obligation, nor the " Unwritten Law," which 
is never imparted to anyone except from mouth to 
ear. Shortly afterward Mr. Florence was similarly 
favored in Algiers and Aleppo. Through letters and 
commendations he finally secured the manuscript 
monitor, history and descriptive matter from which 
sprang the Order in this country. It was in Algiers 
and Aleppo that he was received into the Inner Tem- 
ple under the domain of the Crescent and first be- 
came possessor of the esoteric work, the " Unwritten 
Law " and the Shayk's obligation. Subsequently he 
visited Cairo, Egypt, and was admitted, and col- 
lected more of Oriental history and the manuscript 
of " Memorial Ceremonials." But Mr. Florence was 
never fully recognized or possessed of authority until 
long after his return to America. All he possessed 
was a disconnected series of sheets in Arabic and 
French, with some marginal memoranda made by 
himself from verbal elucidation in Aleppo. Through 
Professor Albert L. Rawson these, with others re- 
ceived afterward through correspondence abroad, 
comprised the translations from which the Order 
started here. Mr. Florence and myself received 
authority to introduce the Order here. 

On June 16, 1871, at Masonic Hall, No. 
114 East Thirteenth Street, New York City, 
Messrs. Fleming and Florence conferred 
the "new Order" upon the following Scot- 
tish Kite Freemasons : Edward Eddy, 33°; 
Oswald Merle d'Aubigne, 32°; James S. 
Chappell, 32°; John A. Moore, 32°; Charles 
T. McClenachan, 33°; William S. Paterson, 



33°; George W. Millar, 33°; Albert P. Mo- 
riarty, 33°; Daniel Sickels, 33°; John W. 
Simons, 33 6 ; Sherwood C. Campbell, 32°; 
who, together with Albert L. Rawson, 32°, 
"Arabic translator," September 26,1872, 
instituted Mecca Temple, A. A. 0. N. M. S., 
the first or parent Temple in the United 
States. As "the next session" was held 
January 12, 1874, it may be seen that the 
Order did not grow rapidly in the first few 
years. On January 4, 1875, Damascus 
Temple, Rochester, N. Y., was organized, 
which gave some impetus to the Order, and 
Dr. Fleming, Potentate of Mecca from 1871 
until 1886, invested the following thirty- 
third degree Freemasons with the preroga- 
tives of Past Potentates, to enable them to 
cooperate actively in establishing subordi- 
nate Temples: OrrinWelch, Syracuse, N. Y.; 
John D. Williams, Elmira, N. Y. ; Charles 
H. Thomson, Corning, N. Y. ; Townsend 
Fondey, John S. Dickerman, and Robert 
H. Waterman, Albany, N. Y.; John F. 
Collins, New York, N. Y. ; John L. Stet- 
tinius, Cincinnati, 0.; Vincent L. Hurl- 
burt, Chicago, 111.; Samuel H. Harper, 
Pittsburg, Pa.; and George Scott, Pater- 
son, N. J. In June, 1876, an Imperial 
(governing) Council was organized at New 
York City, with the following list of offi- 
cials : Walter M. Fleming, New York, Im- 
perial Potentate; George F. Loder, Roches- 
ter, Deputy Potentate ; Philip F. Lenhart, 
Brooklyn, Chief Rabban ; Edward M. L. 
Ehlers, New York, Assistant Rabban ; 
William H. Whiting, Rochester, High 
Priest ; Samuel R. Carter, Rochester, Orien- 
tal Guide ; Aaron L. Northrop, New York, 
Treasurer ; William S. Paterson, New York, 
Recorder ; Albert P. Moriarty, New York, 
Financial Secretary ; John L. Stettinius, 
Cincinnati, First Ceremonial Master ; Ben- 
son Sherwood, New York, Second Cere- 
monial Master ; Samuel Harper, Pittsburg, 
Marshal ; Frank H. Bascom, Montpelier, 
Captain of the Guard ; and George Scott, 
Paterson, Outer Guard. Meetings of the 
Imperial Council have been held annually, 



ANCIENT ARABIC ORDER OF NOBLES OF THE MYSTIC SHRINE 



3 



and officers elected triennially. At the 
fifth session of Mecca Temple, January 16, 
1877, there was a large increase in mem- 
bership, and it was announced that the 
Imperial Council had perfected its "ritual, 
statutes, history, diplomas, dispensations, 
and charters;" that "members, Temples, 
deputies, and representatives now extend 
from the extreme east to the west, and 
from the north to the south of our juris- 
diction/' and that the Order was destined 
to become, what has proved to be the case, 
"a most popular and powerful one in 
America/' In that year there were four 
Temples represented at the Imperial Coun- 
cil, and dispensations were granted to form 
others. In 1879 Mecca Temple took on 
new life, largely through the efforts of 
Augustus W. Peters, Charles H. Heyzer, 
and Joseph B. Eakins, who laid the founda- 
tions for the elaborate ceremonial, gorgeous 
scenic effects, and realistic dramatic rendi- 
tions of the ritual of the Order, which have 
since distinguished it. By the end of 1879 
there were reported thirteen Temples, with 
a total membership of 438 Nobles, since 
which time the progress of the Order has 
been one of uninterrupted prosperity. At a 
public installation ceremony at Mecca Tem- 
ple in 1884, many ladies were present, and 
so great was the interest that ladies' recep- 
tions have since been a feature among 
entertainments for which the Shrine is 
noted. To give them permanence they 
have been invested with a ceremonial, and 
gatherings of this character are now known 
as Courts of the Daughters of Isis. This 
organization w r as formed October 30, 1888, 
to cultivate social relations between ladies 
of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. Its 
government is independent, under the 
jurisdiction of Mecca Court, from which 
other Temples may receive charters en- 
abling them to establish Courts. 

The extension of the Mystic Shrine dur- 
ing the past ten years has exceeded all 
precedent among like societies. Temples 
have been established at leading centres in 



all States, each with a distinctive Arabic or 
other Oriental name and form, rallying 
points not only for prominent Freemasons 
w r ho reside at those cities, but veritable 
Meccas of hospitality, good fellowship, and 
true brotherhood for all visiting Nobles. 
Not the least characteristic among agree- 
able features of the Order are the pilgrim- 
ages by members of one or more Temples 
to sister Temples, or to distant points of 
general interest, which, with sight-seeing, 
and the extension and reception of Shrine 
hos]3itality, usually provide enjoyable ex- 
cursions of a week or a fortnight's dura- 
tion. Pilgrimages from all over the country 
to sessions of the Imperial Council, by spe- 
cial trains bearing Nobles decorated with 
fezzes and crescent tiger-claws, constitute 
invasions of objective points which the in- 
habitants thereof seldom, if ever, forget. 
It is likewise an amiable custom to organize 
family theatre parties at least once each 
year. In some instances the Nobles, who 
are decorated with fezzes and claws, and are 
accompanied by wives and families, require 
the entire seating capacity of theatres, and 
it is not infrequent that one or more of 
those behind the footlights on such occa- 
sions are entitled to, and do wear, the mystic 
symbols of the Order. These entertain- 
ments are supplemented annually by carni- 
vals, at which only children of the Masonic 
"nobility " are admitted, to be entertained 
by members of the Order. With the annual 
public receptions and carnivals, where the 
decorations include scenes from Arab life 
and a wealth of Oriental ornamentation, the 
general public at larger cities is familiar. 

It is difficult to analyze and reconcile the 
somewhat fragmentary accounts of the 
origin and development of the Arabic Order 
of which the Shrine is said to be a de- 
scendant, and it may well be doubted 
whether such a task can be successfully 
performed. The " Origin and History of 
the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of 
the Mystic Shrine," compiled and collated 
by Dr. Walter M. Fleming and William S. 



ANCIENT ARABIC ORDER OF NOBLES OF THE MYSTIC SHRINE 



Paterson, copyright, 1894, by Andrew H. 
Kellogg, New York City, states that it was 
instituted by Kalif Alee, "cousin-german 
and son-in-law " of Mohammed, in the year 
644 a.d., at Mecca, Arabia, ; 'asan Inqui- 
sition or Vigilance Committee to dispense 
justice upon criminals who escaped their 
just deserts through the tardiness of the 
courts, and also to promote religious tolera- 
tion among cultured men of all nations ; " 
evidently a sort of Arabic Vehmgerichte, or 
twenty-first degree. The ceremonial in 
this organization was crude, membership 
being acquired on taking the " Arab oath." 
It is declared to have had a continuous 
existence in Oriental countries, and " now 
gathers around its Shrines the best educated 
and most cultivated classes among Moham- 
medans, Hebrews, and Christians. " Dr. 
Fleming writes that " it is derived from a 
politico-religious order of the Arabic Mo- 
hammedans which extends all over Europe, 
termed the Bektash ; " but in the " Origin 
and History " it is stated that the Bektash 
are merely among the " most honored pa- 
trons of the Nobles," whom it protected 
"in a time of great peril." The Bektash 
are said to number several hundred thou- 
sand, and to have headquarters at Cairo, 
Damascus, Jerusalem, Smyrna, Constanti- 
nople, Adrianople, Teheran, Benares, Tan- 
gier, Oran, Mecca, and at other cities in the 
far East. The chief of these dervishes at 
Mecca is declared to be the principal officer 
of the Arabic Mystic Shrine. It will justly 
surprise many students of " Secret Societies 
of All Ages" to learn that Adam Weis- 
haupt, the founder of the Illuminati in 
Bavaria, in 1776, is claimed " among the 
modern promoters of the principles of the 
Order" of the Mystic Shrine in Europe, as 
well as Frederick the Great, Mirabeau, 
Goethe, Spinoza, Kant, Lord Bacon, Ca- 
vour, Mazzini, Garibaldi, Victor Emanuel, 
and others, most of whom are known to have 
been Freemasons. It would seem as if this 
discovery would have been sufficient to en- 
able the founders of the American Order to 



have explained why the Society abroad had 
long been carried within the Masonic body, 
and to have given it, had they so desired, a 
distinctly Masonic alliance. Some of the 
recognized Orders appendent to Free- 
masonry have had less right to claim that 
honor. But as membership in the Order of 
Nobles of the Mystic Shrine in America is 
confined to Freemasons, its founders here 
may be regarded as having builded with dis- 
cretion, ingenuity, and wisdom. 

The jewel of the Order is a crescent, gen- 
erally made of the claws of the Bengal tiger, 
united at the bases with a gold setting. 
The sphinx is engraved on one side, and a 
pyramid, urn and star on the other. The 
emblem may also bear the date of the 
owner's initiation into the Order and an 
Arabic motto, " Kuwat wa Ghadab ; " or in 
Latin, "Robur et Furor ;" and in English, 
" Strength and Fury." The crescent is 
usually suspended from a scimitar, and 
holds a star pendent between its drooping 
horns. The crescent has been a religious 
emblem in all ages in the East, and in some 
countries is a political ensign. The ancient 
Greeks used the crescent as "an emblem 
of the universal Mother of all living things." 
The Shrine for esoteric reasons employs 
the crescent with its horns pointing down- 
ward: " The setting moon of the old faith at 
the moment of the rising sun of the -new 
faith in the brotherhood of all mankind." 
The origin of the universal use of the fez 
among Moslems, whence, of course, Shrine 
members get it, is told as follows : 

When pilgrimages to Mecca were interrupted by 
the Crusades, about a.d. 980, the Mohammedans 
west of the Nile journeyed to Fez (or Fas), in Mo- 
rocco, as to a holy city. Among the flourishing 
manufactures of the city was a head-covering called 
tarboosh, now known as a fez, which was dyed scar- 
let, for the students in a great school at that city. 
In that way it became a mark of learning, and 
gradually displaced other forms and colors of hats. 
It was carried in all directions by caravans, and 
thus became the distinguishing head-dress of Mos- 
lems in every part of the empire. 

During the past eight years the Order 



ANCIENT ARABIC ORDER OF NOBLES OF THE MYSTIC SHRINE 



in the United States has grown at the rate 
of fully 4,000 members annually. On 
January 1, 1899, its total membership was 
about 50,000, distributed among seventy- 
nine Temples at as many cities.* Its Christ- 
mas donations to the poor and to benevolent 
institutions recently amounted to over 

* Temples of the Jlystic Shrine. — Alabama : Bir- 
mingham, Zamora Temple, First Wednesday, 
March, June, September. Arizona : Phoenix, El 
Zaribah Temple, First Monday, November, Decem- 
ber, January, February, March, April. Arkansas : 
Pine Bluff, Sahara Temple, First Wednesday. Cal- 
ifornia : Los Angeles, Al Malaikah Temple, Third 
Friday ; San Francisco, Islam Temple, Second 
Wednesday. Colorado : Denver, El Jebel Temple, 
March, June, September, December. Connecticut : 
Bridgeport, Pyramid Temple, Second Wednesday, 
except July and August ; Hartford, Sphinx Tem- 
ple, Second Thursday. District of Columbia : 
Washington, Almas Temple, Call of Potentate. 
Florida : Jacksonville, Morocco Temple, First Fri- 
day after Third Tuesday. Georgia : Atlanta, Yaa- 
rab Temple, Third Wednesday ; Savannah, Alee 
Temple, Call of Potentate. Idaho : Boise City, El 
Korah Temple, Second Thursday. Illinois : Chi- 
cago, Medinah Temple, Monthly ; Peoria, Mo- 
hammed Temple, Second Tuesday : Rockford, Te- 
bala Temple, Fourth Wednesday. Indiana : Indi- 
anapolis, Murat Temple, Fourth Friday. Iowa : 
Cedar Rapids, El Kahir Temple, on call ; Daven- 
port, Kaaba Temple, First Tuesday. Kansas : 
Leavenworth, Abdallah Temple, First and Third 
Friday ; Salina, Isis Temple, Third Tuesday. Ken- 
tucky : Louisville, Kosair Temple, Second Monday. 
Louisiana : New Orleans, Jerusalem Temple, Quar- 
terly. Maine : Lewiston, Kora Temple, Fourth 
Thursday, January, May, September, November, 
December. Maryland : Baltimore, Boumi Temple, 
29th, 30th, or 31st. Massachusetts : Boston, Aleppo 
Temple, Call of Potentate ; Springfield, Melha 
Temple, Fourth Thursday, except July and Aug- 
ust. Michigan : Grand Rapids, Saladin Temple, 
Call of Potentate ; Detroit, Moslem Temple, First 
Tuesday ; Marquette, Ahmed Temple, First 
Wednesday. Minnesota : Minneapolis, Zuhrah 
Temple, Fourth Friday ; St. Paul, Osman Temple, 
May 23th, October 20th, January 19th. Missis- 
sippi : Meridian, Hamasa Temple, Fourth Thurs- 
day. Missouri : Kansas City, Ararat Temple, First 
Wednesday ; St. Joseph, Moila Temple, Fourth 
Wednesday ; St. Louis, Moolah Temple, Third 
Wednesday. Montana : Helena, Algeria Temple, 
Second Thursdav. Nebraska : Lincoln, Sesostris 



$26,000, in which none of the secret relief 
extended to sick or distressed Nobles is in- 
cluded. One of the most important and 
characteristic features of the Order is found 
in its generous donations to Freemasons in 
need of assistance, which is done so secretly 
that the world never hears of it, and few 

Temple, Second Saturday ; Omaha, Tangier Tem- 
ple, Fourth Friday. New Mexico : Albuquerque, 
Ballut Abyad Temple, Second Monday. New 
York : Albany, Cyprus Temple, subject to call ; 
Brooklyn, Kismet Temple, on call ; Buffalo, Is- 
mailia Temple, 29th ; New York, Mecca Temple, 
Call of Potentate ; Rochester, Damascus Temple, 
four times a year ; Troy, Oriental Temple, Third 
Friday ; Utiea, Ziyara Temple, First Wednesday ; 
Watertown, Media Temple, Second Monday. North 
Carolina : Charlotte, Oasis Temple, no stated time. 
North Dakota : Fargo, El Zagal Temple, every 
Thursday. Ohio : Cincinnati, Syrian Temple, Call 
of Potentate ; Cleveland, Al Koran Temple, Pleas- 
ure of Potentate ; Columbus, Aladdin Temple, 
Second Thursday : Dayton, Antioch Temple, un- 
certain. Oklahoma : Oklahoma, India Temple, 
Third Thursday. Oregon : Portland, Al Kader 
Temple, Fourth Wednesday. Ontario, Canada : 
Toronto, Barneses Temple, August, November, 
April. Pennsylvania : Erie, Zem Zem Temple, Call 
of Potentate ; Philadelphia, Lu Lu Temple, First 
Wednesday ; Pittsburg, Syria Temple, Call of Po- 
tentate ; Reading, Rajah Temple, Fourth Wednes- 
day, t-xccpt July and August ; Wilkesbarre, [rem 
Temple, Third Wednesday. Rhode Island : Prov- 
idence, Palestine Temple, Fourth Monday, Decem- 
ber, March, June, October. South Dakota : Dead- 
wood, Naja Temple, First Saturday, March, June, 
September ; Sioux Falls, El Riad Temple, Third 
Wednesday. Tennessee : Chattanooga, Alhambra 
Temple, Third Friday ; Memphis, AlChymia Tem- 
ple, December and March. Texas : Austin, Ben 
Hur Temple, Friday after appearance of Crescent 
in the West ; Dallas, Hella Temple, Third Thurs- 
day. Utah : Salt Lake City, El Kalah Temple, 
Third Wednesday. Vermont : Montpelier, Mount 
Sinai Temple, Second Friday, March, June, Sep- 
tember, December. Virginia : Richmond, Acca 
Temple, Fourth Thursday, except June, July, Au- 
gust. Washington : Spokane, El Katif Temple, 
First Wednesday ; Tacoma, Afifi Temple, Third 
Wednesday. West Virginia : Charleston, Beni 
Kedem Temple, Second Thursday ; Wheeling, Osi- 
ris Temple, Second and Fourth Friday. Wiscon- 
sin : Milwaukee, Tripoli Temple, Second Wednesday. 
Wyoming : Rawlins, Korein Temple, Last Friday. 



6 



ANCIENT ARABIC ORDER, ETC., OF NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICA 



beyond those in immediate interest ever 
know of it. Mohammedanism is not advo- 
cated by the ritual of the American Order, 
but the same respect is inculcated for Deity 
as in Arabia and elsewhere. 

Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of 
the Mystic Shrine of North and South 
America. — This is a social and fraternal 
organization of negroes, which seeks to 
parallel the Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles 
of the Mystic Shrine. (See the latter.) As 
the A. A. 0. N. M. S. admits only Freemasons 
who are Knights Templars or have received 
the thirty-second degree, Ancient and Ac- 
cepted Scottish Kite, so the A. A. 0. N. M. 
S. of North and South America receives 
only those who have taken the higher de- 
grees conferred in negro Masonic bodies. 
(See Freemasonry among Negroes.) The 
Grand Council of the A. A. 0. N. M. S. 
of North and South America was insti- 
tuted at Chicago, June 10, 1893, by John 
G. Jones and others. It is declared that Mr. 
Jones is the first negro in the United States 
to receive the Shrine degree, and that it was 
conferred upon him by ' ' several members 
of the Grand Council of Arabia" who were 
in Chicago " in attendance at the World's 
Fair." It is likely that Jones and associate 
negro Nobles received their Shrine ritual 
in the same manner as the negro Knights 
Templars obtained theirs. In 1895 a meet- 
ing of the Grand Council of the A. A. 0. N. 
M. S. of North and South America was 
held at Chicago. Its officials were some 
of the more active negro Freemasons in 
the United States. The list is as follows : 
John G. Jones, Chicago, who presided ; 
Joseph H. Shreve, Chicago ; D. W. Demp- 
sey, Chicago ; Robert H. Hucless, New 
York ; J. W. Dunmore, Chicago ; W. W. 
Madden, Baltimore ; W. P. Floyd, Indian- 
apolis ; D. F. Seville, Washington, D. C. ; 
Thomas W. Logan, Kansas Cit} T , Mo. ; B. 
M. Shook, Cleveland ; Rev. Dr. J. B. Stans- 
berry, New York ; James H. Lewis, New 
York ; M. L. Hunter, New York ; J. F. 
Scott, Chatham, Ont. ; E. A. Williams, 



New Orleans ; S. S. Scott, Pueblo, Col. ; 
Thomas P. Mahomet, Omaha ; Joseph S. 
Custis, New York; J. D. Scott, Fort Worth, 
Tex., and John Coleman, Water Valley, 
Miss. At the same meeting it was planned 
to organize a women's auxiliary, to be known 
as the Daughters of the Pyramid. There 
were twenty-three Temples represented and 
more were to be instituted. 

Ancient Order of Freesmiths (Der 
Alte Orden der Freischmiede). — According 
to old charters which are alleged to be 
still in existence in the Supreme body 
in Germany, this German secret so- 
ciety carries its organization back more 
years than almost any other similar body. 
The extreme secrecy with which its pro- 
ceedings and traditions are surrounded 
renders it somewhat difficult to obtain de- 
tailed information concerning it. Various 
published accounts profess to trace its ori- 
gin as far back as the eighth century, to 
Westphalia, which, at that time, included 
the region between the Elbe and the Rhine, 
and the present Republic of Switzerland. 
It will interest Scottish Rite Freemasons, 
as well as other students of the subject of 
secret societies in the Middle Ages, to 
learn that this brotherhood is said to have 
originated in the Vehmic Courts, and that 
the claim is made that this secret organiza- 
tion, the Freesmiths of to-day, has had a 
continuous existence ever since. Whether 
it has or not, it presumes, like some 
other and better known secret societies, 
to supply the links between the time of 
the Vehmgerichte and to-day. The Amer- 
ican branch of the society declares that the 
Vehmgerichte flourished from the reign of 
Charlemagne, mostly in Germany, where it 
exercised a considerable influence between 
the twelfth and sixteenth centuries, in put- 
ting down the lawlessness and disregard 
for authority which prevailed there. It 
constituted courts for the protection of the 
innocent and oppressed, which were as 
easily approached by the humblest as high- 
est. The Vehmgerichte became an immense 



ANCIENT ORDER OF FREESMITHS 



power, not onl} T throughout Westphalia, but 
elsewhere in German}'; and while, from the 
point of view of the present time, it was a 
lawless organization, it was, as a matter of 
fact, a society of the most law-abiding of 
that time, designed to bring to justice the 
evil-doer of whatever rank in society, and 
to see that punishment was meted out. 
The Freesmiths, while claiming direct de- 
scent from these Vehmic courts, carry their 
existence far enough back to date from the 
period when the courts were used for the 
execution of justice, ignoring the period 
when they became, as they afterwards did, 
in the hands of the nobility, instruments for 
unworthy purposes. One of the latest of 
the Vehmic courts was that held at Celle, 
in Hanover, in 1568, although it has been 
heard of at later dates. It is related that 
Jerome Bonaparte in 1811 abolished one of 
the later forms of the Velimgerichte in Aus- 
tria, at which time it was known as Der 
Alte Orden der Freischmiede. But the 
Order was in existence in other portions of 
Germany at the time, where it is still con- 
tinued, and had a large membership. A 
candidate for initiation into the Order was 
required to be a Christian, never to have 
been excommunicated or outlawed, and not 
a party to any trial before the Vehme. He 
was required to take a solemn oath to sup- 
port the Holy Vehm, to conceal its pro- 
ceedings "from wife and child, father and 
mother, sister and brother, fire and wind. 
from all that the sun shines on and the 
rain wets, and from every being between 
heaven and earth, and to bring before the 
tribunal everything within his knowledge 
that fell under its jurisdiction/' He was 
then invested with the signs by which the 
members recognized each other, and pre- 
sented with a rope and a knife, upon the 
latter of which were the letters S. S. G. G., 
supposed to mean Strick, Stein, Gras, Grein, 
or Rope, Stone, Grass, Grain. One variety 
of Vehmic court held its meetings openly, 
while the proceedings of the other were 
secret. The former took jurisdiction in 



civil suits and others of trivial character, 
while the latter took charge of crimes of 
more serious nature. The accused in the 
procedure of these courts was cited by hav- 
ing the summons nailed over his door at 
night, or, if it was not known where he 
lived, by fastening four copies at a cross- 
road near his supposed residence. None 
but the initiated was admitted during the 
sessions of the secret court, and any one 
found present who was not a member was 
put to instant death. The only punish- 
ment inflicted by the secret court was 
death ; and in case the convicted accused 
was not present, the first of the initiated to 
meet him was bound to put him to death 
and leave the knife with the cabalistic let- 
ters beside the body, to show the deed was 
not a murder. With the revival of law 
and order and legal procedure, Der Alte 
Orden der Freischmiede is declared to have 
taken the place of the Velimgerichte, with 
some of the more deadly characteristics of 
the latter left out, and some of the benevo- 
lent features of more modern secret socie- 
ties incorporated. 

The first Lodge of the Freischmiede in 
the United States was organized in Bal- 
timore in 18G5, and a second one was 
formed in Washington in I860. After 
the organization of the third Lodge in 
this country, which was in Philadelphia in 
1867, the Order took on a rapid growth. 
There are thousands of members of the so- 
ciety in this country to-day, but compara- 
tively little is known about the institution, 
and members thereof appear chary about 
giving information. It apparently avoids 
publicity, not only regarding its affairs, but 
regarding its membership and location. 
Lodges are believed to be established in al- 
most every State in the Union, which are 
governed by State or Grand Lodges, and the 
latter are controlled by the Supreme Lodge 
of the United States, which is said to meet 
regularly " on the first hour of every leap 
year." The Lodge rooms are called Smith- 
ies, and represent the firmament, the 



ANCIENT ORDER OF OSIRIS 



presiding officer being the Sun, the second in 
command the Moon, and the third, etc., rep- 
resenting other planets or heavenly bodies. 
The ritual of the Order has no religious 
characteristics, a recognition of a higher 
power being the only requisite from those 
seeking admission. The objects of the 
society are intellectual development, the 
extension of wisdom and toleration, sick 
benefits and life insurance. The lower body 
in the organization is entitled the Free Mas- 
ters and contains six degrees. The regalia 
is composed of a red sash with three stars. 
After an honorable career in the Order for 
a year, the degree of Grand Marshal is 
conferred, with a black sash and seven 
stars. After that comes the Grand Master 
degree, with the blue sash and seven stars, 
when the member is entitled to wear his 
sword. The highest degree bestowed is en- 
titled Cavalier, and is conferred after three 
years and an examination in astronomy and 
the sciences. Only a Cavalier may become 
President of a Supreme Lodge, the emblem 
of which degree is the Cross of the Knights, 
a sash of red, black, and blue with all the 
stars, and a sword and a dagger. These 
officials exercise somewhat the same pre- 
rogatives as Sovereign Grand Inspectors 
General of the thirty-third and last degree 
of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of 
Freemasonry, having access to all the bodies 
and their archives, and being entitled to 
special honors at all visits. Like so many 
younger secret societies, this one possesses 
a motto in three words — Truth, Fidelity, 
and Secrecy (Wahrheit, Treue, unde 
Schwiegen). The obligations of the Order 
require every member to assist unfortunate 
or distressed brethren. Lodges pay five 
dollars weekly in case of sickness of mem- 
bers, $125 in case of the death of a member's 
wife, and $500 to the heirs of a member in 
case of his death. A recently published list 
of officials of the Supreme Lodge of the 
United States included the following : 
Grand Honorary President, William 
Schlumpf of New York ; Grand Marshal, 



William Drexler of Paterson, N. J. ; Grand 
Counsellor, Jacob Himmelsbach of New 
York ; Grand Secretary, William Mertz of 
Paterson, N. J.; and Grand Treasurer, 
Emil Baumgarten of Paterson, N. J. 

It is only fair to state that there are no 
reasons for believing that the Ancient Order 
of Freesmiths have had any more direct 
connection with the Vehmgerichte of the 
Middle Ages than have any of the haute 
grades of the Ancient and Accepted Scot- 
tish Eite of Freemasonry, and there are 
several external evidences that the found- 
ers of the Freesmiths have patterned after 
some of the emblems and ceremonials of the 
Rite Ecossais. There are, however, rea- 
sons for crediting the inspiration of the Free- 
smiths to some of the earlier workingmen's 
guilds in Germany. 

Ancient Order of Osiris. — In the his- 
tory, objects, and aims of this modern 
American Order, published in 1887, no 
mention is made of its headquarters. It is 
governed by a Supreme Tribunal, and deals 
in Lesser and Greater Mysteries, all of 
which are declared to have been instituted 
in virtue, with the noblest objects in view. 
Its watchwords are Truth, Justice, and 
Equity, and it seeks to clothe the naked, 
feed the hungry, educate the orphan, and 
"to know each other and ourselves." 

Anti-Masonry. — Organized opposition 
to Freemasonry has shown itself in three 
forms since the revival in 1717, when the 
four London Lodges united to form a Grand 
Lodge. The first came and still emanates 
from the Roman Catholic Church ; the 
second, from one or more offshoots of the 
Scotch Presbyterian Church ; and the third 
was conspicuous in the United States for 
a decade after the disappearance of William 
Morgan of Batavia, N. Y., who, it was said, 
was about to disclose the secrets of the Fra- 
ternity. Almost all political antagonism to 
Freemasonry in Europe may be traced to the 
influence of the Roman Catholic Church. 
During the seven years from 1717 to 1724 
the Fraternity attracted the attention of 



ANTI-MASONRY 



many Englishmen of learning and title, 
when, on September 3, 1724, the London 
" Daily Post" announced the appearance in 
that city of a secret society described as the 
Ancient and Noble, or, the August and 
Noble Order of Gormogons. It was declared 
to be of Chinese origin, founded " thousands 
of years" prior to Adam, and the printed 
account set forth that a Chapter would be 
held at Castle Tavern, Fleet Street, where 
" no Mason " would be received as a member 
" till he had renounced " his " novel Order " 
and been "properly degraded." Six weeks 
later the same paper stated that "many 
eminent Freemasons" had "degraded" 
themselves (renounced their Fraternity and 
burned their gloves and aprons) and joined 
the Gormogons. 

Several theories have been advanced to 
account for the existence of the Gormogons. 
The first, that it was a creation of the Cheva- 
lier Eamsey, an ardent Freemason and a 
Roman Catholic, and another, that it was 
the beginning of what took shape as the 
schismatic branch of English Freemasonry 
about the middle of the last century, are 
both regarded as unworthy of consideration. 
The third theory, that it was a " Jesuitic," 
that is, Roman Catholic, invention, designed 
to offset the growing popularity of Freema- 
sonry, was, and still is, believed to be the true 
explanation, particularly as the Society of 
Gormogons disappeared in 1738, the year in 
which Pope Clement XII. issued his famous 
bull against Freemasonry. It was on April 
28, 1738, that Pope Clement XII. published 
his bull, entitled In Eminenti Apostolatus 
Specula, containing the following words : 

For which reason the temporal and spiritual 
communities are enjoined, in the name of holy 
obedience, neither to enter the society of Free- 
masons, to disseminate its principles, to defend it, 
nor to admit nor conceal it within their houses or 
palaces or elsewhere, under pain of excommunica- 
tion ipso facto for all acting in contradiction of this, 
and from which only the Pope can absolve the dying. 

On January 14, 1739, a still more stringent 
edict was issued for the Papal States, death 



and confiscation of property, without hope 
of mercy, being the penalty. De Cormenin, 
in his " History of the Popes," refers to the 
"pleiad of philosophers" which had ranged 
itself around Voltaire, "battling in the 
breach against the civil and religious au- 
thority of popes, bishops and priests," Mon- 
tesquieu, Rousseau, Diderot, d'Alembert, 
and others compelling "the third estate, 
the nobility, and even a great part of the 
French clergy to march in their progressive 
route to the conquest of a new order of 
things." The political movement, he de- 
clared, "though less apparent than the re- 
ligious, was not the less real. Secret associ- 
ations were everywhere organized to labor 
for the overthrow of kings and priests," and 
" Rome was so moved " by this revolution- 
ary tendency that " Clement XII. declared 
war on secret societies and fulminated a 
terrible bull against the Freemasons who 
had established Lodges in England, Scot- 
land, France, Germany, and Italy." 
These statements indicate that Clement 
was unable to distinguish between a secret, 
pacific, non-political, benevolent brother- 
hood and secret political associations. De 
Cormenin relates that Pope Clement's bull 
against Freemasonry prohibited " his sub- 
jects " from affiliating with or being present 
at Masonic assemblies, from inducing any- 
one to join the Fraternity, and from "ren- 
dering aid, succor, counsel, or a retreat" to 
a Freemason "under penalty of death;" 
which, in part, refers, probably, to the sup- 
plementary bull of 1739, applying to the 
Papal States. " These proscriptions," De 
Cormenin says, gave Freemasonry an "ex- 
traordinary lustre, and Europe was soon 
covered by a prodigious number of Lodges." 
The reasons for issuing this, the first of 
a long list of bulls against Freemasonry, 
are thus set forth in the document itself : 

We have learned, and public rumor does not per- 
mit us to doubt the truth of the report, that a cer- 
tain society has been formed under the name of 
Freemasons into which persons of all religions and 
all sects are indiscriminately admitted, and whose 



10 



ANTI-MASONRY 



members have established certain laws which bind 
themselves to each other, and which, in particu- 
lar, compel their members, under the severest 
penalties, by virtue of an oath taken on the Holy 
Scriptures, to preserve an inviolable secrecy in re- 
lation to everything that passes in their meetings. 

The bull further declares that these soci- 
eties had become suspected of being hurtful 
to the tranquility of the state and to the 
safety of the soul ; that if the actions of 
Freemasons were irreproachable they would 
not so carefully conceal them from the 
light ; and all bishops, superiors, and ordina- 
ries were enjoined to punish the Freemasons 
" with the penalties which they deserve, as 
people greatly suspected of heresy, having 
recourse, if necessar} 7 , to the secular arm." 
Three years before this, in Amsterdam 
(1735), a Masonic Lodge room was forcibly 
entered and its furniture destroyed by ' ' a 
crowd of fanatics" whose zeal had been 
kindled by " some of the clergy." Although 
Clement's bull did not meet with a favor- 
able reception in France, in Italy many sus- 
pected of being Freemasons were arrested 
and placed in dungeons, as well as some ac- 
cused of having furnished an asylum to 
Masonic Lodges. Like measures to crush 
the Fraternity were resorted to in Spain and 
in Portugal, and in 1745 Masonic assemblies 
were prohibited throughout Switzerland 
under the severest penalties. In 1748 a 
Masonic Lodge at Constantinople was de- 
molished and its members were arrested, 
but ultimately discharged through the in- 
terposition of the British Minister. In 
Scotland, in 1757, the Synod of Stirling de- 
barred all adhering Freemasons from the 
ordinances of religion, whence, possibly, may 
be found the origin of some of the opposition 
to the Fraternity in one or more branches 
of the Scotch Church. The Papal bull of 
1738 was confirmed and renewed by Bene- 
dict XIV. in 1751, and by Pius VII. in 1821. 
Leo XII., in his Apostolic Edict, Quo Gra- 
viora, 1826, included the acts and decrees 
of the earlier popes on this subject, and 
ordered them to be ratified forever. As 



noted by Gould, in his "History of Free- 
masonry/' Pius VII. spoke to the same effect 
in 1829, Gregory XVI. in 1832, an£ Pius IX. 
in 1846, 1864, and at other dates. Leo XIII. 
again confirmed these decrees of his prede- 
cessors in 1884, and extended the opposition 
of the Roman Church to the Odd Fellows, 
the Knights of Pythias, and the Sons of 
Temperance. About ten years ago the 
Cardinal at Quebec took steps to prevent 
Roman Catholics in his jurisdiction from 
joining the Knights of Labor, a secret labor 
and socialist society, founded by a Free- 
mason, which has some of the outward forms 
and characteristics of Freemasonry. But so 
much opposition was excited that, on an ap- 
peal to Rome, the action was not sustained. 
A reply to an inquiry directed to Cardinal 
Gibbons states that the Fenian Brotherhood 
and its successor, the Clan-na-gael, are not 
approved by the Church, in reference to 
which no explanation is necessary. On 
January 6, 1895, the Roman Catholic Arch- 
bishop of Cincinnati, on the authority of the 
Holy See, announced the position of that 
Church with respect to the Odd Fellows, 
the Knights of Pythias, the Sons of Tem- 
perance, and, incidentally, Freemasonry, in 
part as follows : 

All the ordinaries of the various dioceses of the 
United States must use their exertions to keep the 
faithful away from all and each of the three socie- 
ties called the Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, 
and the Sons of Temperance. And the faithful 
themselves must be admonished of this ; and if, 
after the admonition, they still adhere to these so- 
cieties, and will not leave them effectually, they 
must not be admitted to the Sacraments. . . . 
First, these societies seem to have a decided in- 
fluence to lead Catholics toward Freemasonry, and 
Freemasonry is under the absolute condemnation 
and excommunication of the Church. I will not 
stop to consider the reasons for this, except to draw 
your attention to the declared and implacable hatred 
of Masons against the Church and against all reli- 
gious interests. This is openly and angrily avowed 
by the leading Masons of Europe, and manifested 
by their satanic warfare against everything Chris- 
tian, particularly in Italy and France. In our 
country this spirit does not seem to prevail ; yet 
there has been no action by the Masons of this 



ANTI-MASONRY 



11 



country sufficient to satisfy the Church that they 
are secured against the infusion of the spirit of their 
brethren. . . . Now, it is often seen that the 
active promoters of these societies, now condemned, 
are also zealous Masons ; and if a Catholic is 
drawn into one of them, he is in continual and 
familiar association with the admirers of Masonry, 
and immediately exposed to imbibe their senti- 
ments, consciously or unconsciously. Again, more 
positively and more strongly do these societies tend 
to weaken a Catholic's regard for the doctrines of 
the Church and for her Sacraments and other 
administrations. . . . They do not, I believe, 
expressly antagonize the Church's teachings and 
practices ; and Catholics who are in them may 
probably say very honestly that they have not seen 
or heard anything opposed to the Church. But 
these societies do profess to inculcate morality with- 
out the help of the Church. They intentionally or 
unintentionally dispose a man to believe that if he 
practises the natural virtues — of honesty, truthful- 
ness, sobriety, philanthropy, etc. — then he is all 
that a man ought to be ; and also to believe that 
he can practise these virtues quite sufficiently by 
the force of his own will : that he does not need 
the special helps which our Lord furnishes through 
His Church. This is called natural religion ; that 
is, such knowledge of God and such practice of a 
good life as a man can reach by his own natural 
reason and strength. It leaves out revealed re- 
ligion ; that is, the other truths which God has 
revealed to man through the sacred Scriptures, 
through our Lord Jesus Christ and His Apostles. 
It leaves out the necessity of grace, our redemp- 
tion from sin through the life and death of the 
Son of God made man. It loaves out the means 
of grace given us by God in His Sacraments, the 
Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and the other ministra- 
tions of the Church. In a word, it leaves out the 
supernatural end of man and the supernatural 
means given him to reach that end. Of course, 
the natural tendency of such an association is to 
dispose men to think less earnestly about Christian- 
ity. And it has, too, been observed, that Catholics 
frequenting these societies gradually cool in their 
love for the Church, becoming indifferent to her 
doctrines and careless of observing her precepts. 
Some may resist this tendency, but too many yield 
to it. And the very fact of their seeing nothing in 
the Lodge to disturb their religion makes them all 
the more liable to drift down unconsciously. . . . 

Referring to the nature of the alleged 
obligation of one of the condemned socie- 
ties, the Archbishop continued : 

This oath and these penalties apply to all 



"mysteries which he may hereafter be instructed 
in." He has no guarantee as to the character of 
these mysteries. They may be blasphemies against 
God, or treason against his country, or injustice 
against his neighbor. Of course, he hopes it will 
not be so, and the members may say it will not be. 
But how can a man conscientiously put himself 
under such an oath and such penalties, with no 
other protection but their saying ? His oath is on 
record. Their saying is a passing word. . . . 
Such obligations of blind obedience are contrary to 
the natural conscience of man. 

The formation of a Post of the Grand 
Army of the Republic at Notre Dame, In- 
diana, in July, 1897, the membership of 
which "was composed wholly of Roman 
Catholic priests/' shows striking contrasts 
in the views of that Church concerning 
various secret societies. Archbishop Ryan, 
in replying to a vote of thanks from a 
Philadelphia Post, Grand Army of the Re- 
public, in 1896, was quoted in the daily 
papers in part as follows : 

I do not believe there was ever any general con- 
demnation of your Order by the Church, although 
individual bishops may have misinterpreted your 
constitution. It has no objectionable features that 
I can see, and is universally acknowledged by the 
Church at large in the country to-day. Your Order 
is founded on charitable and fraternal fellowship 
and patriotism. Patriotism is from God, and the 
Catholic Church should, therefore, be the first to 
nurture it. 

One significance of this lies in the fact 
that the Grand Army was organized by Odd 
Fellows and Freemasons and is largely made 
up of them ; like them, it is " founded on 
charitable and fraternal fellowship and pa- 
triotism," and is secret, has grips, passwords, 
obligations, and an initiatory ceremony. 
The refusal of the Church of Rome to con- 
demn the Knights of Labor and the Grand 
Army of the Republic is, therefore, an ap- 
parent triumph of diplomacy. A Roman 
Catholic Anti-Masonic International Con- 
gress was held at Trient, Austria, in 
September, 1896, "to make known to 
everybody the immense moral and material 
evil done by Freemasonry to the Church 
and to society, and to seek remedy by way 






12 



ANTI-MASONRY 



of a permanent, international organiza- 
tion against the Craft." In a published 
letter to the clergy approving that meeting, 
the coadjutor to Cardinal Taschereau at 
Quebec denounced Freemasonry as an "in- 
fernal sect" and a "diabolical organiza- 
tion." The London "Times" said of the 
Congress that about eight hundred persons 
attended it, of whom six hundred were 
clergymen ; and that, while the speeches 
were moderate, Freemasonry was "attacked 
as being opposed to the divine law and the 
Church." Whatever objection the Church 
of Rome may have to Freemasonry in 
France or elsewhere on the Continent, where 
the Bible has been removed from Masonic 
altars, or where Freemasons have been ac- 
cused of conspiring against the Pope, it is 
evident that Pope Clement's bull against 
Freemasonry in 1738 (renewed and con- 
firmed by all his successors) is feebly en- 
forced to-day. The consequences of au at- 
tempt in the United States and the United 
Kingdom to have it carried out literally 
would suggest a problem in which a resist- 
ible body meets an immovable body. 

The Pennsylvania Christian Eeform Con- 
vention, opposed to secret societies, held at 
the First United Presbyterian Church, 
Philadelphia, February, 1891, declared Free- 
masonry, so-called, the Society of Jesuits, 
and all societies which impose an oath on 
members to obey unknown laws, unscrip- 
tural, un-Christian and un-American, and 
membership in them degrading, and im- 
plored the State and Nation to declare 
members of all such societies outlaws. 

At a session of the Synod of the Re- 
formed Presbyterian Church, in Phila- 
delphia, in June, 1894, a report was adopted 
condemning secret societies as being " or- 
ganized on the principle of secrecy and for 
the purpose of concealment without previ- 
ous knowledge of the things to be con- 
cealed. . . ." 

Such a society is contrary to the spirit and letter of 
the religion of Jesus Christ. The grip, the pass- 
word, the darkened window, the guarded door are not 



Christlike ; and the Christian, especially the minister 
of Christ, is out of place in such surroundings.* 
Organized secrecy invites suspicion. Organized se- 
crecy is a menace to society. It naturally leads to 
ends and means and invites persons that need con- 
cealment. Whoever calls any man " Grand Master " 
makes himself a grand slave. Secret orders not 
only lord it over their own members, but undertake 
to dictate on terms of death the conduct of those 
outside their organization. Let everyone who enters 
a secret society know that he parts with his liberty, 
puts his neck under a yoke, and fetters his feet. He 
virtually says : " I am your beast, drive me ; I am 
your slave, command me ; I yield my own will and 
judgment to others." 

Organized opposition to Freemasonry 
among Protestant religious bodies has not 
been of sufficient importance to attract 
public attention during the past fifty years, 
being largely confined to a few of the minor, 
schismatic sects. When delegates from 
several of these bodies meet to fulminate 
against the Craft, they sometimes call them- 
selves a "Christian Association, Interde- 
nominational, Anti-Secret Convention." 
Such a gathering was held at Minneapolis, 
November, 1895, and resolved : 

That, in our opinion, secret societies are con- 
demned by the example and the word of Jesus Christ ; 
that such societies must injure men who compose 
them, uniting in fraternal fellowship believers and 
non-believers, and thus tending to separate them 
from the Saviour of men ; that such orders are hos- 
tile to the home life, depriving wife and children of 
the companionship and help of husband and father, 
and tending to destroy the confidence and sympathy 
which should be the foundation of home life ; that 
the churches of Jesus Christ are the God-appointed 
agency for the redemption of the world, and that 
secret societies tend to destroy them by rivalry and 
substitution ; and that the Lodge oaths are incon- 
sistent with good citizenship, and that good citizens 
should withstand and oppose them. 

Though political persecution of Free- 
masons and opposition to Freemasonry in 

* In 1891 the total number of ordained ministers 
in the State of New York who were affiliated Free- 
masons was as follows : Methodist, 288 ; Episcopal, 
146 ; Baptist, 112 ; Presbyterian, 59 ; Universalist, 
31 ; Congregational, 21 ; Dutch Reformed, 13 ; 
Christian, 13 ; Lutheran, 11 ; Jew, 7 ; Unitarian, 
1 ; Reformed Jew, 1 ; total, 703. 



ANTI-MASONRY 



13 



Europe, South America, and elsewhere 
abroad have generally been due to Roman 
Catholic influence, there is an exception in 
the prohibition of meetings of the society 
in Russia. 

In the United States an Anti-Masonic 
political party made its appearance in 
1827, and was active in some or all of 
the Middle and New England States 
for the next ten years. It was the out- 
growth of what was known as the ' ' Morgan 
affair." William Morgan of Batavia, 
Genesee County, X. Y., who claimed to be 
but is not known to have been, a Free- 
mason, had a book in press which was said 
to reveal the secrets of the Masonic Fra- 
ternity. He was arrested on September 
11, 1826, on a charge of petit larceny, and 
put in jail at Canandaigua, X. Y. The 
story goes that he was released on the 
night of September 12th on the payment of 
the amount of the execution to the jailer's 
wif e,the jailer being absent, and, guarded by 
several men, was taken in a closed carriage 
to Fort Niagara, on Niagara River, where all 
trace of him was lost, so far as his relatives 
and the public were concerned. More than 
a year afterwards, in October, 1827, a much 
decomposed body of a man was found on the 
shore of Lake Ontario, not far from the 
mouth of Xiagara River. Morgan's wife, 
Thurlow Weed, and others who knew Mor- 
gan, declared that the body was Morgan's, 
notwithstanding the family of Timothy 
Munroe, a Canadian fisherman who was 
drowned a few months before, were posi- 
tive that the body was Munroe's. Thurlow 
Weed, it will be recalled, first rose into 
political prominence through his connec- 
tion with the Morgan affair. Both he 
and William H. Seward, members of the 
National Republican party, were keenly 
alive to the opportunity to ride into power 
through a political party to be created out 
of the storm to which Morgan's disappear- 
ance gave rise. The Masonic Fraternity 
suffered severely from the outcry against it, 
and so fierce was the sentiment on both 



sides that in Xew York, Xew England, 
Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Michigan political 
parties, church congregations, families, 
and friends were divided on the issue. The 
Masonic Fraternity repudiated the acts of 
individual Freemasons accused of Mor- 
gan's abduction, and cooperated with the 
authorities in an effort to bring the guilty 
ones to justice ; but a whirlwind of public 
^condemnation was aimed at the Craft in 
general, and would not be stayed. The re- 
sult was, that during the next few years 
hundreds of Masonic Lodge warrants were 
surrendered. The insistence by Weed and 
others that the body found in October, 
1827, was that of Morgan (supposed to 
have been drowned in September, 1826), 
helped to fan the political flame which re- 
sulted in the formation of the Anti-Masonic 
party, in which Weed, Seward, and their 
friends were leaders. When Weed was 
confronted with the inconsistency of his 
claim that the body was Morgan's, he is 
credibly reported to have replied : " It's a 
good enough Morgan until after election," 
which lias become a stock political phrase 
to this day. Morgan was never seen, dead 
or alive, after his abductors left him. In 
Weed's autobiography he says that John 
Whitney, one of Morgan's abductors, con- 
fessed to him at Albany, in 1831, that 
Morgan was carried to Fort Niagara with the 
understanding that Canadian Freemasons 
would furnish him a retreat in the Do- 
minion, but that they refused to do so, 
w r hereupon Morgan was thrown overboard 
from a rowboat in Niagara River. Weed 
says he promised the secret would not be 
divulged while any of the abductors lived. 
In 1869 Weed says he wrote Whitney, ask- 
ing for a written account of the affair for 
publication after Whitney's death, when 
he learned that Whitney had just died. 
Weed's account of this did not appear until 
1883. Several persons were apprehended 
for the abduction of Morgan, but none 
were convicted. The Anti-Masonic party 
appeared in western New York early in 



14 



ANTI-MASONRY 



1827 ; and in 1828, aided in part by the 
"good enough Morgan until after elec- 
tion/' polled 33,365 votes for Governor 
of New York State, out of a total of 
276,583 ; and, as Charles M. Harvey, St. 
Louis, states, "two years later it made 
such inroads on the New York State Na- 
tional Republican organization that the 
latter virtually vanished," and the Anti- 
Masonic party became, for the time being, 
the only opponent of the Democracy in 
that State. In Vermont and Pennsylvania 
it also displaced the National Republican 
organization, and it secured a strong foot- 
hold in Ohio, Massachusetts, and a few 
other States. The Anti-Masons entered 
the national field for the Presidential can- 
vass of 1832, by nominating William Wirt 
of Maryland for President, and Amos 
Ellmaker of Pennsylvania for Vice-Presi- 
dent, by national convention, as early as 
September, 1831, the first national Presi- 
dential convention in our history. Thir- 
teen States, all northern, except Delaware 
and Maryland, were represented. They 
met early, to compel the National Repub- 
licans to withhold the candidacy from 
Henry Clay, who was a Freemason. The 
National Republicans nominated Clay, 
however, who was badly beaten by Andrew 
Jackson, who was also a Freemason. Only 
one State, Vermont, was carried by the 
Anti-Masons. As a distinct party the 
Anti-Masons never took part in another 
Presidential campaign, being absorbed by 
the Whigs, which succeeded the 'National 
Republican party in 1834. In State can- 
vasses in Vermont and Pennsylvania the 
Anti-Masons remained a factor for several 
years, electing Joseph Ritner Governor of 
Pennsylvania in 1835. Some of the or- 
ganizations known as "American parties" 
in the past twenty years have had anti- 
Masonic planks in their platforms, but 
their votes have been too few to be 
counted. 

Individual prejudice against or objection 
to Freemasonry, merely because of the secret 



character of the society, does not call for 
extended reference, except with respect to 
such publications as have had sufficient 
weight to attract general attention. Per- 
haps the earliest of these was " The Natural 
History of Staffordshire," by Robert Plot, 
published at Oxford, England, in 1686, 
which admitted that "persons of* the most 
eminent quality did not disdain to be of 
'the fellowship." " Masonry Dissected," by 
Samuel Prichard, was published at London 
in 1730, and replied to in "A Defence of 
Masonry," by James Anderson, London, in 
1738. Between 1762 and 1768 there was a 
flood of books attacking the Fraternity, nota- 
bly "Jachin and Boaz " (1762), "Hiram, 
or the Grand Master Key " (1766), " The 
Three Distinct Knocks" (1768), and in the 
year last named a sermon, also published at 
London, entitled " Masonry the Way to 
Hell, . . . Wherein is Clearly Proved 
both from Reason and Scripture that all 
who Profess the Mysteries are in a State of 
Damnation." The final English work of 
this character appeared a century ago, in 
1797, written by John Robison, Professor 
of Natural Philosophy, and Secretary of the 
Royal Society of Edinburgh. It was en- 
titled "Proofs of a Conspiracy against all 
the Religions and Governments of Europe 
carried on in the Secret Meetings of Free- 
masons, Illuminati, and Reading Societies," 
and owes preservation solely to the perma- 
nency of the institution it sought to destroy. 
The earliest antagonistic publication in 
France was "La Grande Lumiere," the 
author of which had several imitators, the 
best known of whom was the Abbe Barruel, 
who wrote " Memoires pour servir a l'his- 
toire du Jacobinism." Barruel was a priest 
and a royalist, and was so affected by the re- 
sults of the French Revolution that he in- 
sisted the consequences of that movement 
were the outcome of the machinations of the 
Freemasons or Jacobin clubs. But where 
Robison was calm and dispassionate, Bar- 
ruel became abusive. Anti-Masonic publica- 
tions in Spain and Italy have been confined 



ANTI-MASONRY 



15 



principally to the bulls of the popes and 
edicts of the Inquisition. In defence of the 
edict of the Council of Dantzic against the 
Fraternit}^ a book appeared in 1764 with the 
name, " Proofs that the Society of Free- 
masons in every Country is not only Use- 
less, but, if not Restricted, Dangerous, and 
ought to be Interdicted." Subsequent 
anti-Masonic German publications were 
mostly pamphlets. In the United States 
like literature began with Morgan's book in 
1828, a paraphrase of similar early English 
books, and was followed by many others 
with no special claim to attention. An ex- 
ception is found in "Letters on Masonry 
and Anti-Masonry addressed to Hon. John 
Quincy Adams," by William L. Stone, New 
York, 1832, a Freemason, during a period 
of intense political excitement, and designed 
solely to advance the interests of the Anti- 
Masonic party. The Anti-Masonic party 
had declared that the Masonic Institution 
was subversive of good government, and in- 
tended for the political aggrandizement of 
its leaders ; yet Stone had the fairness to 
admit that " the fact is not to be disguised 
— contradicted it cannot be" — that anti- 
Masonry had become so thoroughly political 
that "its spirit was vindictive toward the 
Freemasons without distinction as to guilt 
or innocence. " Mackey has pointed out 
that Stone condemned Freemasonry because 
of the acts of the abductors of Morgan, 
whereas, "as well might the vices of the 
Christians of Corinth have suggested to a 
contemporary of St. Paul the propriety of 
suppressing Christianity." "Letters on 
the Masonic Institution," by John Quincy 
Adams, ex-President, which appeared in 
the public journals between 1831 and 1833, 
were collected and published in book form 
in 1847. The severest competent Masonic 
criticism of Adams may be found in Mac- 
key's "Encyclopaedia of Freemasonry" : that 
he was " a man of strong points and weak 
ones, of vast reading and wonderful mem- 
ory, of great credulity and strong pre- 
judice " — dwelling continually, in his anti- 



Masonic writings, on " the oath " and " the 
murder of Morgan" — a victim of the mis- 
representations of the Masonic Fraternity. 
It is hardly necessary to more than refer to 
the compilations of anti-Masonic documents 
published by James C. Odiorne and by 
Henry Gassett at Boston, in 1830 and 1831, 
respectively. 

The recovery of . the Masonic Fraternity 
from the shock of the inquisition instituted 
by the Anti-Masonic party was slow. So 
violent was the persecution of adhering Free- 
masons that many were driven to renounce 
the society in order to live in peace. Itin- 
erant lecturers found a new source of rev- 
enue by pretending to give public repre- 
sentations of Masonic ceremonies; almanac 
makers filled their publications with cor- 
roborative details as to the essential wick- 
edness of Freemasonry ; and pretended rev- 
elations of the secrets of Lodge, Chapter, 
Commandery, and of some of the Scottish 
Rite bodies were peddled about the country 
by thrifty Anti-Masons. This was from 1830 
to 1835, when to confess sympathy or con- 
nection with Freemasonry meant social, po- 
litical, and often religious ostracism. It is 
of exceptional interest to note (as may be 
seen by reference to articles under those 
titles) that during this period the Indepen- 
dent Order of Odd Fellows was practically 
reorganized and began a more active career; 
that the Ancient Order of Druids and the 
Ancient Order of Hibernians were intro- 
duced into the United States from Eng- 
land and Ireland, respectively; that the Im- 
proved Order of Red Men was organized 
and reestablished as at present constituted; 
that the college fraternities Kappa Alpha, 
Sigma Phi, and Delta Phi, founded at 
Union College, Schenectady, N. Y., a few 
years before, took on rather more conven- 
tional secret society forms; that Alpha Delta 
Phi was founded at Hamilton College, Clin- 
ton, K\ Y., in 1832, and Psi Upsilon at 
Union College, in 1833, all leading Ameri- 
can college secret societies. In 1831, the year 
that Thurlow Weed, William H. Seward, 



16 



BROTHERHOOD OF THE NEW LIFE 



and Thaddeus Stevens went as delegates to 
the Anti-Masonic, the first national Presi- 
dential convention, John Quincy Adams, 
Edward Everett, Joseph Story, and other 
leading Harvard representatives were so 
overcome with the anti-secret society feeling, 
that they induced members of the Harvard 
Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa to violate their 
pledges of secrecy as to the " mysteries " of 
the mother of American college fraternities, 
and make that organization non-secret. 
There is food for thought in the fact that 
none of the members of the two dozen imi- 
tators or offspring of the secret society Phi 
Beta Kappa ever imitated it by formally re- 
vealing their secrets on the college campus, 
and in the further fact that the two college 
fraternities, founded respectively in 1832 
and 1833, one year and two years after the 
Harvard Phi Beta Kappa affair, were estab- 
lished as secret societies, and remain among 
the strongest and best of like organizations 
to this day. From 1832 to 1845, or during 
the period of greatest excitement due to the 
anti-Masonic agitation, and for half a dozen 
years thereafter, the college secret societies 
continued to multiply and to establish new 
Chapters, from which an inference is fair 
as to the probable origin of the Masonic cast 
given the earlier rituals of some of them — 
all of those named, and afterward the " Mys- 
tical Seven." Late in the thirties and 
early in the following decade Freemasons 
began to gather and Lodges to open and do 
work. The recovery was not rapid, but was 
steady, and during the ten years prior to the 
outbreak of the Civil War the Craft regained 
what it had lost between 1828 and 1840. 
Since the Civil War the progress of the Fra- 
ternity has been so great that all opportunity 
for successful opposition based on bigotry, 
ignorance, or prejudice has been removed. 
One-half the Freemasons in the world are 
Americans; one man in every thirteen in the 
country is a member of the Fraternity, and 
its membership, as a whole, includes repre- 
sentatives of all ranks of society. They are 
found in general business and in political, 



professional, and military life; as President 
or the humblest office-holder; the executive 
head of a continental system of railways, or 
signalman ; in the bishop, priest, clergyman, 
lawyer, editor, and physician or the ordinary 
wayfaring man of commerce, whether propri- 
etor or clerk; as admiral or marine, as gen- 
eral or private. Freemasons constitute a 
dominant seventh as well as an influence 
in all other reputable secret societies in the 
United States. The total membership of all 
of them, allowing for a proportion belonging 
to several organizations, cannot be fewer 
than six million, one-third the total adult 
population of the country. To such pro- 
portions have Freemasonry and like soci- 
eties grown, that were a tithe of the allega- 
tions true which are made against the parent 
organization by its detractors, society at 
large would be reaping a whirlwind. 

Brotherhood of the New Life. — « 
A mystical, religious, communal society 
founded by Thomas Lake Harris, at Moun- 
tain Cove, N". C, in 1851. It disbanded in 
1853, owing to internal dissensions. He 
formed a second community, in 1858, at 
Amenia, Dutchess County, N. Y., which 
shortly after removed to Brockton, Chautau- 
qua County, in the same State. Groups of 
three or four persons were formed in the 
Brotherhood, but if affection resulted, the 
group was broken up. Parents were separated 
from children, and husbands from wives. 
Harris was born in England in 1824, but 
most of his early life was passed at or near 
Utica, N". Y. He was evidently impressed 
by the Mormon movement, which began at 
Palmyra, and by the Fox Sisters' phenomena 
at Bochester, 1ST. Y. He became a Swe- 
denborgian and a spiritualist. He declared 
that his journey to North Carolina and the 
founding of the Brotherhood were direct re- 
sults of communications from the Lord, and 
that it was as the direct representative of 
the latter that he remained at the head of 
the movement, and held titles to property 
in trust for the disciples and the commu- 
nity. His followers lived in separate houses 



FREEMASONRY 



17 



and dressed as did people generally, but 
they wore their hair long, observed the fifth 
day of the week as a day of rest, opposed 
marriage, and advocated Platonic love. 
None of the critics of the Brotherhood has 
charged them with immorality. Harris's 
most distinguished disciple was Lawrence 
Oliphant, over whom, from 1867 to nearly 
the time of the latters death in 1881, he 
exercised a remarkable influence. In 1875 
Harris and many of his followers reestab- 
lished the Brotherhood at Santa Eosa, Cali- 
fornia. There he is said to have overcome 
his asceticism, and in 1891 was declared to 
have announced that he had discovered the 
secret of perpetual youth. In 1892 he left 
his luxurious home in California, came to 
New York City, married, and settled down. 
Some members of the Brotherhood are re- 
ported to still live in California and some in 
Nebraska. 

Brotherhood of the West Gate. — A 
brotherhood seeking to solve i; the esoteric 
mysteries of the microcosm,' ' the restora- 
tion of "inner harmony," in the face of 
which " wealth, fame, and power . . . sink 
into nothingness." It publishes " The Ora- 
cle " at Bridgeton, Maine. 

E-soter-ists of the West. — Little is 
learned of this brotherhood beyond its name, 
its excessively secret character, and the ex- 
planation that the word " west " refers to the 
Americas. The division of the word " Esoter- 
ists " in the title evidently has some partic- 
ular significance. 

Freemasonry. — The Ancient and Hon- 
orable Society of Free and Accepted Masons, 
usually referred to as Ancient, Free, and 
Accepted Masons, sometimes as Free and 
Accepted Masons (A. F. & A. M. or F. & 
A. M.), is a secret fraternity, founded upon 
man's religious aspirations, which, by forms, 
ceremonies, and elaborate symbolism, seeks 
to create a universal brotherhood, to relieve 
suffering, cultivate the virtues, and join in 
the endless search for truth. It is the oldest 
and most widely distributed secret society, 
having an active membership of 1,400,000 
2 



in the more than 25,000 Lodges which, ex- 
cept in Austria and Russia, mark the paths 
of commerce and civilization throughout the 
world. 

The student of the history of the Craft 
may be glad to know that Benjamin Frank- 
lin, who was a Freemason, wrote of the 
Fraternity as follows : 

It has secrets peculiar to itself; but of what do 
those principally consist ? They consist of signs and 
tokens, which serve as testimonials of character and 
qualifications, which are only conferred after a due 
course of instruction and examination. These are 
of no small value ; they speak a universal language, 
and act as a passport to the attention and support 
of the initiated in all parts of the world. They can- 
not be lost so long as memory retains its power. Let 
the possessor of them be expatriated, shipwrecked. 
or imprisoned ; let him be stripped of everything he 
has got in the world; still these credentials remain 
and are available for use as circumstances require. 
The great effects which they have produced are 
established by the most incontestable facts of his- 
tory. They have stayed the uplifted hand of the 
destroyer; they have softened the asperities of the 
tyrant; they have mitigated the horrors of cap- 
tivity: they have subdued the rancor of malevo- 
lence, and broken down the barriers of political 
animosity and sectarian alienation. On the field of 
battle, in the solitude of the uncultivated forests, or 
in the busy haunts of the crowded city, they have 
made men of the most hostile feelings, and most 
distant religions, and the most diversified condi- 
tions, rush to the aid of each other, and feel social 
joy and satisfaction that they have been able to 
afford relief to a brother Mason. 

The Fraternity as now organized dates 
from 1717, when the four old Lodges in Lon- 
don met and formed a Grand Lodge. The 
most ancient Freemasons referred to in trust- 
worthy historical records were the opera- 
tive stone masons or builders of the Middle 
Ages, referred to in v En gland as far back as 
the eighth century. About three hundred 
years ago the operative Craft in England, 
France, and Germany began to disintegrate. 
This was the natural consequence of not 
only the Reformation and the Thirty Years' 
War, but of the completion of the churches 
and cathedrals upon which the stone ma- 
sons' guilds had been engaged for several 



18 



FREEMASONRY 



centuries, originally with the assistance of 
the Church. These bands of traveling 
builders held a general assembly at Stras- 
burg in 1275, and another nearly one hun- 
dred years later, at which laws were framed 
and a fraternity formed. Guilds were com- 
posed of apprentices, craftsmen, and masters, 
had an initiatory ceremony and a sign. 
Traveling from city to city throughout Cen- 
tral and Western Europe, they constituted 
the first, or operative Free Masons, so-called 
because they enjoyed privileges granted by 
the Church and civil authorities, owing to 
their skill in architecture and the charac- 
ter of the edifices they built. When the 
churches and. cathedrals were completed, the 
guilds began to disappear. In France the 
guilds, which were more directly the out- 
come of the Eoman occupation of the coun- 
try, and of the colleges of artificers which 
accompanied the Roman legions, were abol- 
ished about 1536-39. Upon their ruins 
there arose a new type of workingmen's 
guilds known as the Companionage. By 
1655 this had spread throughout France, 
divided into three separate fraternities com- 
posed of various trades, or, as we would say, 
unions, the oldest being known as the Sons 
of Solomon. The other two sprang from 
the Sons of Solomon, and were bitter rivals. 
One was known as the Sons of Maitre 
Jacques. Its traditions carried the society 
back to King Solomon's Temple, and in the 
untimely death of Maitre Jacques is found 
a striking parallel to the story of Hiram. 
The Sons of Soubise, an offshoot of the Sons 
of Maitre Jacques, possessed many of the 
characteristics of the latter. No description 
of the Companionage was made public until 
1841, nearly one hundred and twelve years 
after the introduction of Freemasonry into 
France from England, notwithstanding the 
story of the building of King Solomon's 
Temple and the death of Hiram formed a 
part of the legends of the Companionage. 
The foregoing, as pointed out in Gould's 
"History of Freemasonry," appears to be 
the earliest account of the death of the mas- 



ter builder, for there is no reference to the 
Hiramic legend in Freemasonry until after 
the formation of the Grand Lodge at Lon- 
don in 1717, more than sixty years after the 
French Companionage had reached the 
height of its career. 

Among various theories as to the origin 
of modern Freemasonry, the following have 
had many advocates: (1) That which car- 
ries it back through the mediaeval stone ma- 
sons to the Ancient Mysteries, or to King 
Solomon's Temple; (2) not satisfied with 
the foregoing, that which traces it to Noah, 
to Enoch, and to Adam; (3) the theory that 
the cradle of Freemasonry is to be found in 
the Roman Colleges of Artificers of the ear- 
lier centuries of the Christian era; (4) that 
it was brought into Europe by the return- 
ing Crusaders; (5) that it was an emanation 
from the Templars after the suppression of 
the Order in 1312; (6) that it formed a vir- 
tual continuation of the Rosicrucians; (7) 
that it grew out of the secret society crea- 
tions of the partisans of the Stuarts in their 
efforts to regain the throne of England; (8) 
that it was derived from the Essenes, and 
(9) from the Culdees. 

Whatever may have been believed as to 
Freemasonry being traceable to any of the 
foregoing, the results of the investigations 
of R. F. Gould, W. J. Hughan, and Rev. 
A. F. A. Woodford of England, D. Mur- 
ray Lyon of Scotland, Albert Pike, G. F. 
Fort, Albert G. Mackey, Charles T. McClen- 
achan, E. T. Carson, T. S. Parvin, Josiah 
H. Drummond, and others in the United 
States, ;; Masonic authors of repute and dili- 
gent students of Masonic records," make it 
plain that while the rites and symbols of 
Freemasonry have great antiquity, specu- 
lative Freemasonry, as an organization, is 
modern, probably not over three hundred 
years old. 

The Essenes, the only one of the three 
ancient Jewish sects mentioned in the Bible 
which was not referred to unfavorably, has 
been regarded by some as the cradle of an- 
cient Freemasonry. It had existed "from 



FREEMASONRY 



19 



time immemorial," but disappeared about 
400 a.d. The Essenes are said to have per- 
fected the Jewish Kabbala, to have believed 
in miraculous cures, to have regarded them- 
selves as temples of the Holy G-host, and to 
have been "forerunners of the Messiah." 
They had secret means of recognition, and 
taught that all things were not for all men, 
but there has been no more connection shown 
between the ancient Essenes and modern 
Freemasonry than that Masonic scholars and 
ritualists may have found something in al- 
leged Essenic rites worthy of assimilation 
in latter-day mysteries. The Culdees were 
Apostolic Christians, monks of Eastern ori- 
gin. They were encountered in Ireland 
about the fifth century, and later in Scot- 
land. They were opposed by St. Augus- 
tine, and virtually disappeared in the four- 
teenth century. They were teachers of civ- 
ilization, church architects and builders, 
and it has been claimed they were connected 
with early Scotch and Irish operative Free- 
masons. The partisans of the Stuarts were 
active, and some were prominent Freema- 
sons ; but while they contributed something 
to the rituals of so-called higher degrees, 
they had no permanent influence upon the 
institution. The real Rosicrucians were 
mystics who flourished in Germany, France, 
and England in the latter portion of the 
seventeenth century. Contrary to views 
which have been held, it was not a society, 
and was not concerned merely in an effort 
to transform baser metals into gold and to 
discover the secret of perpetual youth, which 
symbolized a search for divine truth and 
immortal life. The Rosicrucians were un- 
doubtedly in advance of their time, but not 
too much so to borrow freely from the sym- 
bolism of the ancient mysteries and of the 
Gnostics. A number of eminent Rosicru- 
cians were Freemasons, notably Elias Ash- 
mole, the antiquary. What Freemasonry 
owes to the Rosicrucians may never be 
known, although something may be inferred 
by students who are familiar with both 
societies. (See Freemasonry, Rosicrucians, 



etc.) Gould (R. F.) thinks Freemasonry 
may have been tinged with Rosicrucianism 
through the influence of Ashmole and 
others, but points to there being no real 
evidence of it aside from the fact that Free- 
masonry presents the double and single tri- 
angles, the hexagon, the point within a cir- 
cle, a magical alphabet, and a search for 
light. The ignorance and superstition of 
the mass of the people in the seventeenth 
century led them to regard the brethren of 
the Rosy Cross, who were theosophists first, 
and Kabbalists and alchemists afterwards, as 
dealers in magic and in league with the 
devil. Those who have favored the theory 
that modern Freemasonry was the outgrowth 
of Rosicrucianism have added that so much 
were the public inflamed against the Rosi- 
crucians that the latter were obliged to shel- 
ter themselves under the cloak of. Free- 
masonry, when they gave to the latter a 
Christian interpretation. By the end of 
the seventeenth century Europe was covered 
with pretended Rosicrucians offering to com- 
municate the occult for money. The theory 
that Freemasonry appeared in Europe upon 
the return of the Crusaders has long been 
abandoned, but its successor was a French 
Templar theory of the origin of the institu- 
tion, and in some portions of Europe it still 
finds advocates. It rests on a legend that 
the Knights Templars, at the destruction of 
the Order and the burning of Jacques de 
Molay, fled to Scotland, where they became 
Freemasons and propagated the rite. The 
French Ordre du Temple is based upon a 
modification of this theory, as were the 
Strict Observance in Germany, and other 
rites. There is, however, nothing in this 
except the legend, for Freemasonry as it 
existed in England .in 1717 has been shown 
to be the result of the evolution of guilds of 
operative stone masons, who, it is needless 
to add, could never have derived their rites 
and formulas from the original Knights 
Templars, who were men of rank. The 
story that the Fraternity was founded at the 
building of King Solomon's Temple, and 



20 



FREEMASONRY 



has enjoyed an uninterrupted existence ever 
since, is one of the myths of the organiza- 
tion which has been innocently believed by 
many, but which does not merit serious at- 
tention. The mystical meanings of Masonic 
references to King Solomon's Temple, not 
only in the symbolic degrees, but also in the 
haute grades, have not always been under- 
stood, even by members of the Craft. The 
carrying back of the Fraternity to the ante- 
diluvian age has been due to an inability to 
distinguish between an idea and a fact. So- 
cieties have existed in all ages of the world 
for the propagation of truth, morality, and 
the practice of that which is involved in a 
universal brotherhood; have risen, flour- 
ished, and died. Others have been born, 
have borrowed from those which went be- 
fore, and they in turn have died. But he 
is bold, indeed, who professes to trace an 
uninterrupted succession or an identity of 
organization for them all. The earlier Eng- 
lish associations of operative builders, who 
were first called Free Masons in the four- 
teenth and fifteenth centuries, because of 
the freedom granted them to work and to 
sell the products of their labor, may or may 
not have been the offspring of German stone 
masons' guilds who built the churches and 
cathedrals erected in the Middle Ages. The 
Roman Colleges of Artificers who accompa- 
nied the imperial armies on their excursions 
throughout Europe naturally had an influ- 
ence on not only the English guilds at the 
time of the Roman occupation of Britain, 
but upon the French and German guilds as 
well. But the Freemason knows of that 
which could not well have been derived from 
the mediaeval guilds, or from the Roman 
Colleges, and naturally inquires as to its 
source. During the sixteenth century the 
German and French fraternities of travel- 
ing builders virtually disappeared. The 
French Companionage (trades unions) was 
founded upon the ruins of the latter, but 
had no known connection with the forma- 
tion of speculative Freemasonry, so that in 
the seventeenth and early in the eighteenth 



century speculative Freemasonry, as distinct 
from the operative Craft, that which in- 
dulged only in the symbolism of the work 
performed by the earlier Free Masons, was 
confined to Great Britain alone. Nowhere 
else in the world was it to be found, and 
whether the association of learned men with 
the earlier English operative Free Masons 
was due to an effort on the part of the lat- 
ter to interest others than those of the Craft 
to secure immunity at the hands of the no- 
bility or not, it remains true that profes- 
sional and literary Englishmen, some learned 
in astrology, alchemy, and Kabbalistic lore, 
theoretic geometricians, and architect ma- 
sons, identified themselves from time to 
time with the declining operative frater- 
nity. A notable instance was the initiation 
of Elias Ashmole, the antiquary, in 1746, 
and it is not a mere inference that his join- 
ing the society was not the only instance of 
the kind. This class of membership was 
honorary at first, whence the term Free and 
"Accepted" Masons. In 1703 a formal 
effort was made to change the organization 
from an operative to a speculative fraternity, 
as the old English lodges were dying out, 
only seven surviving the eighteenth century 
in the city of London. The professed de- 
sire was to found a brotherhood which would 
build spiritual instead of material temples, 
to become Freemasons as distinct from Free 
Masons who were workmen or ordinary la- 
borers. When a Grand Lodge was formed 
at London in 1717, there was, so far as 
known, only a single ceremonial or degree ; 
but within six or seven years, or by 1724, 
the three symbolic degrees, Entered Appren- 
tice, Fellowcraft, and Master Mason, had 
made their appearance. The craft guilds 
had contributed the square and compasses ; 
their patron saint, St. John the Baptist ; a 
reference to King Solomon's Temple ; the 
two famous pillars ; the mystical numbers 
five, seven, and nine ; words and grips and 
a long and honorable record as builders of 
English churches and cathedrals under codes 
of laws for their government, which oral and 



FREEMASONRY 



21 



manuscript tradition carried back prior to 
the tenth century, when, in 926, it was said 
that a general assembly of Masons was held 
at York under the patronage of Edwin, 
brother of Athelstan, where a code of laws 
•was adopted which became the basis of sub- 
sequent English craft constitutions. Not- 
withstanding allegations that general Ma- 
sonic assemblies were periodically held at 
York thereafter, Gould says there is no sub- 
stantial reason for believing that more than 
one general assembly (the prototype of the 
Grand Lodge) was held at York prior to 
1717. The English operative Eree Masons 
may be admitted to have preserved traces of 
the influence of the teachings of the Druids 
(which see) ; the Culdees, who also claimed 
to have been granted a charter by Edwin; 
of the Eoman Colleges, and of the English 
Church, with the Holy Bible and altar lights; 
but details of the introduction of the Hi- 
ramic legend will probably forever remain a 
mystery. Yet, with the foregoing in mind, 
it is evident that Freemasonry includes 
much that was not in possession of the four 
old London Lodges in 1717. 

The oldest of the ancient mysteries, those 
practised at Memphis in Egypt, centred 
about Isis, Serapis, and Osiris, and the 
lesson taught was that of regeneration 
through death. Like those which followed, 
they presented a dialogue, ritual, and con- 
trasts between light and darkness, death 
and regeneration. The candidates had 
to undergo purification, trial, failure, and 
even death before being regenerated amid 
rejoicings. The Grecian or Eleusinian 
mysteries (1800 B.C.) represented Demeter 
(Ceres) and Persephone, and depicted the 
death of Dionysus with an elaborate ce- 
remonial which led the neophyte from 
death into life and immortality. Initiates 
were taught the existence of a Supreme 
Being and invested with the signs of and 
membership in a fraternity. The Mithraic 
or Persian mysteries celebrated the eclipse 
of the sun god, introduced the signs of the 
zodiac, the procession of the seasons, the 



death of nature in winter, and its birth in 
spring. They were popular in Rome in the 
earlier centuries of the Christian era, and 
are said to have had an influence on the 
Eoman Colleges of Artificers, by whom they 
may have been disseminated. The Adoniac 
or Syrian mysteries were similar, those in 
which Venus, Adonis, and Proserpine fig- 
ured, in which Adonis was killed, but revived 
to point to life through death. The Cabiric 
mysteries (1000 B.C.), which disappeared 
shortly after the Christian era, were prac- 
tised on the island of Samothrace. The 
Cabiri were gods, and, in the ceremonial, 
Atys the Sun was killed by his brothers the 
Seasons, and at the vernal equinox was re- 
stored to life. So, also, the Druids taught 
of one God and the lesson of the procession 
of the seasons, and conducted the initiate 
through the valley of death to everlasting 
life. The Gnostics are supposed to have in- 
cluded some of the earlier Christians, for 
their doctrines contain a mixture of Chris- 
tianity and the Persian religion. They 
taught by means of symbols, many of which, 
including a secret reference to Deity, the 
double triangle, the lion, serpent, etc., are 
familiar to Freemasons. It will be seen 
that the Rosicrucians were indebted to the 
Gnostics even as they were to the Kabbal- 
ists. The latter taught a mystical inter- 
pretation of the Scriptures, a secret method 
of treating sacred subjects by means of sym- 
bols, and a peculiar use of letters of words 
based upon their values. The student of the 
ancient mysteries, all or nearly all of which 
prior to their perversion taught purity, 
morality, immortality, and the existence of 
a Supreme Being, cannot fail to perceive, 
if in a position to judge, that Freemasonry 
stands as the successor or repository of 
much of that which was noblest and best in 
them. But he also knows of much which 
this theory does not account for, to explain 
which one must go to Pythagoras and his 
celebrated school at Crotona, in Greece, 
founded A.D. 586. Pythagoras, after being 
initiated into the Egyptian and Eleusinian 



22 



FREEMASONRY 



mysteries, formed a secret society of his 
own, with three degrees, in which, among 
other things, he taught geometry, me- 
tempsychosis, and the mystical power of 
numbers. From these the Rosicrucians bor- 
rowed, and from the forms and symbolism 
of the Kabbalists, Gnostics, and Pythago- 
reans as perfected by the Rosicrucians, from 
the Greek, Egyptian, and Oriental philoso- 
phy of the Alexandrian school of Neoplato- 
nism, and from the ancient mysteries, Free- 
masonry has taken enough to mark it with 
the leading characteristics of all ancient and 
mystical schools of religion and philosophy 
— circumambulation, the use of aprons, the 
forty-seventh problem of Euclid, a cipher, 
and the lesson taught by the story of the 
illustrious Tyrian substituted for legends of 
Osiris, Adonis, Atys, and Dionysus. That 
Masonic enthusiasts, antiquarians, and rit- 
ualists superimposed these relics upon Free- 
masonry as it had existed for about one hun- 
dred years prior to 1717, there can be little 
doubt. The Fraternity, therefore, presents 
three classes of symbols : Pagan, derived from 
the same source as Christianity obtained 
them; those contributed by the operative 
Masons, and the exclusively Christian sym- 
bols. It also shows traces of the Vehmge- 
richte, or secret society of Free Judges, which 
was prominent in Germany in the thirteenth 
century. The latter was formed to pro- 
tect the innocent from injustice, held its 
courts in the forest at night, and executed 
its judgments without fear or favor. It 
granted audience alike to noble and peas- 
ant, and few were bold enough to ignore 
its summons or treat its judgments with dis- 
respect. Traces of the society in a modified 
form were found as late as the present cen- 
tury. (See Ancient Order of Freesmiths.) 
Its oath was of a most solemn character, 
binding the initiate to "conceal, hold, and 
not reveal," etc. Its chief symbol was the 
arrow, and for a violation of the vow the 
penalty was death. The introduction into 
the ritual of Freemasonry, about 1825, of 
the story of Hiram was a master stroke. 



If a like legend among the French trades 
guilds, or Companionage, for sixty-five years 
prior to 1717, does not explain where the 
Freemasons of 1717-24 got it, it must be re- 
garded as a most extraordinary coincidence. 
Within ten years after the formation of 
the Grand Lodge of England at London, in 
1717, Freemasonry had spread throughout 
the United Kingdom and the Continent of 
Europe, to many of the British colonies, 
and by 1730 to those in America. With the 
appointment of the Duke of Montagu as 
Grand Master, in 1720, the impetus given 
the growth of the institution became pro- 
nounced, and, as one author points out, the 
Fraternity almost lost its breath in the race 
for popularity. Many men distinguished 
in the professions, in politics, and as repre- 
sentatives of the nobility, not only in the 
United Kingdom, but on the Continent of 
Europe, became members of the Fraternity, 
and not a few of them were conspicuous 
as its officers. With prosperity there natu- 
rally came antagonisms, for some of which 
see Anti-Masonry. As early as 1724 the 
Grand Lodge of England granted a charter 
for a subordinate Lodge at the ancient city 
of York, which is presumed to have antag- 
onized a Lodge of Freemasons which had 
existed there since 1705, as shown by its 
records, and with little doubt for a period 
ranging far back into the seventeenth cen- 
tury. The ancient Lodge thereupon consti- 
tuted itself a ' ' Grand Lodge of all Eng- 
land" (1725), but does not appear to have 
instituted more than one or two subordinate 
Lodges prior to 1740, when it became dor- 
mant, and remained so for twenty years or 
more. But it does not appear to have ac- 
tively opposed the Grand Lodge of England 
at London, which had been and was still 
engaged in chartering subordinate Lodges 
at home and abroad. In 1761 the Grand 
Lodge of all England, at York, became ac- 
tive again, and chartered a number of sub- 
ordinate Lodges in two counties in England. 
Ten years before, in 1751, nine subordinate 
Lodges holding allegiance to the Grand 



FREEMASONRY 



23 



Lodge of England seceded from that body, 
on the ground that the latter suffered sub- 
ordinate Lodges of its jurisdiction to depart 
from the ancient landmarks and practise 
that which had previously been unknown in 
Freemasonry. The seceders organized a 
" Grand Lodge of England, According to 
old Institutions," describing themselves as 
"Ancients," and the members of the orig- 
inal Grand Lodge of England as " Mod- 
erns." The animating spirit of the seced- 
ing (Ancient) Grand Lodge was Laurence 
Dermott, its Grand Secretary, who was an 
able administrator and executive, but an 
audacious antagonist. Dermott compiled 
the "Ahiman Eezon," or Book of Con- 
stitutions of the Ancients, in 1756, which he 
copied from the Constitutions of the orig- 
inal or so-called Modern Grand Lodge, and 
addressed it to "the Ancient York Masons 
in England." The rivalry between the two 
London Grand Lodges, Ancient and Mod- 
ern, was keen, and at times bitter. The 
seceders granted many warrants to army 
Lodges, which bore good fruit by making 
Ancient Masons in many parts of the world 
where the English army was stationed dur- 
ing the latter half of the eighteenth century. 
Dermott was made a Freemason in Dublin 
about 1740, and testified to his appreciation 
of the Lodge wherein he was raised by copy- 
ing its by-laws and using them as the by- 
laws of the Ancients. He received the 
Royal Arch degree in Ireland before com- 
ing to London, then an unsystematized de- 
gree, borrowed presumably from the French, 
and afterwards utilized it in the Grand Lodge 
of Ancients. The Moderns likewise suffered 
from the mania for higher or more degrees 
which characterized the latter half of the 
eighteenth century, and thus it was that at 
the reunion of the Ancients under the Grand 
Mastership of the Duke of Sussex with the 
Moderns under the Duke of Kent, Ancient 
Freemasonry was declared to consist of the 
three symbolic degrees, Entered Apprentice, 
Fellowcraft, and Master Mason, "including 
the Holy Royal Arch." 



After the revival of the Grand Lodge of 
all England, at York, in 1761, it continued 
neutral to the Grand Lodge of England and 
that of the seceding body, the Ancients. 
Late in the last century, after the death of 
its^ several subordinate Lodges, the Grand 
Lodge of all England was discontinued. 
In 1779 an expelled faction of the Lodge of 
Antiquity at London (one of the four Lodges 
which united to form the Grand Lodge of 
England in 1717), together with a deputa- 
tion from the Grand Lodge of all England 
at York, formed another Grand Body under 
the title, " Grand Lodge of England south 
of the Trent." But in 1789 the expelled 
members of the Lodge of Antiquity apolo- 
gized to the Grand Lodge of England, and, 
upon petition, were restored to good stand- 
ing, whereupon the Grand Lodge of Eng- 
land south of the Trent died. With this 
and the final disappearance of the Grand 
Lodge of all England, the way was clear for 
the concentration of efforts of members of 
the original and of the seceding Grand 
Lodges looking to reunion. Negotiations 
to that end were continued over a series of 
years, and resulted, in 1813, as pointed out, 
in a United Grand Lodge of England, since 
which time the Craft in the United King- 
dom has been undisturbed by schism or 
other serious dissension. It is of interest 
to American Freemasons to note that the 
expression "York Rite Masons " has little 
or no basis; that it is, in fact, a misnomer. 
There was and is no York Masonic rite, and 
the symbolic Freemasonry which the world 
knows did not come from the Grand Lodge 
of all England, founded at York in 1725, 
but from the Grand Lodge of England, 
founded at London in 1717. The York 
Grand Lodge outlived its several subordi- 
nate Lodges, and died twenty years before 
the union of the two great English Grand 
Lodges from which the world received An- 
cient Craft Masonry. The expression " An- 
cient York Masons" is probably derived 
from Laurence Dermott's " Ahiman Re- 
zon," which was addressed to " the Ancient 







1725 


From English 
Grand Lodges. 




• 








^Ireland. 
Scotland. 








1 




New S. Wales. 
St. Vincent. 
Tasmania. 


1 v 

St. Barthol. 


Martinique. 

St. Eustatius. 




_ Germany 






J 

Venezuela. 

Mexico. 

U. S. Col. | 

Guatemala. 


Hayti. 




Prussia. 

Denmark. 

Hungary. 


F. Guinea. 




India. 
- Netherlands. 

Russia. 
* Mass. 
Portugal. r~ 

■ Italy. Porto ■ 
Ga. Rico. 
Switzerl'd 

S. C. 
Jamaica. 
Austria. 
Turkey. 

■ Va. 


1 

Dela. 


Grenada. 

-La. 
Gaudeloape. 




1 

Curaeoa. 

Java. 


St. Thomas. 
Trinidad. 

-Cuba. 

Mo. 

Argentine. 

Uruguay. 


1 S 


an jy r ' Philip. Is. Texas. 
1 Ore. 






St. Lucia. 


1 




D. Guinea. 

Ceylon. 

Celebes. ^> 

Servia. 


St. Martin. 


h'h. 

R. I. 


Idaho. Ariz. Utah. 


Egypt. 


Conn. 


Iowa. 

I 


Colo. ■ Ecuador. 


" Peru. 


Md. 
Me. 
Canada. 


1 Mont. J Paraguay. 

Wyoming. 
iak. 


Algiers. 
Society Islands. 


Vt. 


Mich. 

r~ 

Miss. 
Ind. 

I" " 

Ala. 

Ark. i 

Ind. Ter*y 

1885. 


China. 

New Zealand. 
Hawaiian Isl'nds. 
Marquesas. 








L 


Roumania. 




Bermudas. 

Nicaragua. 

Honduras. 

Sumatra. 

China. 

B. Guinea, 


1 

Tean. 


New Caledonia. 




a. 


Minn. 


Morocco. 




Explanatory. 
The first Masonic Lodge in France had 
an English warrant, as did the first Lodge 
in Ireland, in Scotland, Spain, Germany, 
etc. The charter of the first Lodge in 
Sweden came from France, that of the first 
in New South Wales, from Ireland, first 
in Florida, from Spain, etc. 




Bahamas. 

Greece. 

6tralts Settlements. 

So. Australia. 

Japan. 

Liberia. 

Borneo. 

and others. 


Transvoi 









GRAPHIC CHART, .SHOWING THE SPREAD OF FREEMASONRY, BEGINNING 
IN 1725, FROM ENGLAND TO SOME OF THE MORE IMPORTANT 
COUNTRIES, STATES, COLONIES, AND PROV- 
INCES THROUGHOUT THE WORLD. 



FREEMASONRY 



25 



York Masons in England." The Free- 
masonry of the English schismatics, or An- 
cients, was more firmly established in Penn- 
sylvania than in any other of the American 
colonies, where that peculiar type remains 
without change or elaboration, a curiosity to 
visiting brethren. In Pennsylvania, natur- 
ally, much was formerly heard of " Ancient 
York Masons,'' and for that reason the ex- 
pression acquired vogue. English Eree- 
masonry, consisting of the three symbolic 
degrees, " including the Holy Royal Arch," 
forms the English, not the York rite. The 
Grand Lodge of all England (York), like 
the rival London Grand Lodges, conferred 
not only the Royal Arch degree, but that of 
Knight Templar, as well as detached cere- 
monials. 

With English commerce and the British 
army, navy, and diplomatic service furnish- 
ing currents of communication between Eng- 
land and almost every civilized community, 
it was not strange, when the popularity of 
Freemasonry in England between 1823 and 
1840 is considered, that the Fraternity 
spread rapidly to almost every quarter of the 
world. The dates, locations, and origin of 
first Masonic Lodges in more important coun- 
tries, states, and provinces, given in chrono- 
logical order, enable one to trace its extension. 



FIRST MASONIC LODGES. LOCATION'. CHARTERED FROM. 

1725 France Paris England. 

1726 Ireland Cork England. 

1727 Scotland Edinburgh England. 

1728 Spain Madrid England. 

1730 Germany Hamburg.. England. 

Pennsylvania Philadelphia England. 

India Calcutta England. 

1731 Netherlands Hague England. 

Russia St. Petersburg. . . . England. 

1733 Massachusetts Boston England. 

1735 New Hampshire Portsmouth Massachusetts. 

Portugal Lisbon England. 

Norway and Sweden .Stockholm France. 

Italy Koine England. 

Georgia Savannah England. 

South Carolina Charleston England. 

173G Switzerland Geneva England. 

Poland Warsaw England. 

1737 Moutserrat England. 

1738 Martinique France. 

1739 Jamaica Kingston England. 

Antigua .' England. 

St. Christopher England. 

1740 Prussia Charlottenbnrg Germany. 

Malta Valetta England. 

Barbadoes England. 

1742 Austria Vienna England. 

1743 Denmark Copenhagen Germany. 

1747 St. Eustatius France. 

Transvaal Pretoria England. 

1748 Turkey Constantinople England. 

1749 Hayti Sau Domingo France. 



FIRST MASONIC LODGES. LOCATION. CHARTERED FROM. 

1749 Rhode Island Newport Massachusetts. 

1750 Connecticut New Haven Massachusetts. 

Maryland Baltimore Massachusetts. 

1753 Virginia Yorktown England. 

1754 New York New York England. 

North Carolina Wilmington England. 

1755 French Guiana Cayenne France. 

1757 Curacoa Holland. 

1760 Virgin Islands England. 

Hungary Presburg Germany. 

1761 Bermudas England. 

New Jersey Newark New York. 

1762 Dominion of Canada . Quebec Massachusetts. 

Maine Portland Massachusetts. 

1763 Nicaragua Mosquito Shore England. 

Honduras St George's Quay . England. 

1764 Grenada Fort Royal Engl. & France. 

1765 Sumatra Bencoolen England. 

Delaware .CantweH's Bridge .Pennsylvania. 

1766 Guadeloupe France. 

1767 China Canton, Hong KongEngland. 

1768 China Cochin France. 

Florida St. Augustine Scotland. 

1769 Java Batavia Holland. 

Dutch Guiana Paramaibo Holland. 

1771 Ceylon Colombo Holland. 

British Guiana Georgetown England. 

1772 South Africa Cape Town England. 

1773 Dominica Roseau England. 

1781 Vermont Springfield Massachusetts. 

1783 Ohio Marietta A N. Y. Army L. 

District Columbia . . .Alexandria Pennsylvania. 

1784 St. Lucia France. 

1785 Bahamas England. 

1788 Kentucky Lexington Virginia. 

17 92 St. Thomas Pennsylvania. 

1703 Louisiana New Orleans 

1704 Michigan Detroit Canada. 

1796 Tennessee Nashville North Carolina. 

17 97 St. Bartholomew Sweden. 

1798 Trinidad Port D'Espagne . ..Pennsylvania. 

1800 St. Mart in France. 

1801 Mississippi Natchez Kentucky. 

is Venezuela Caracas Spain. 

1802 Egypt Alexandria France. 

1804 Cuba Havana Pennsylvania. 

1805 Illinois. . : Kaskaskia Pennsylvania. 

1806 St. Vincent Ireland. 

1807 Missouri St. Genevieve Pennsylvania. 

Indiana Vincennes Kentucky. 

Peru Lima France. 

1809 Greece Corfu England. 

Straits Settlements. .Penang England. 

1810 Mexico City of Mexico Spain. 

1 Si 1 Alabama Huntsville Kentucky. 

1815 Brazil Rio de Janeiro France. 

1816 New South Wales.. .Sydney Ireland. 

Arkansas Post of Arkansas. .Pennsvlvania. 

1828 Tasmania Hobart Town Ireland. 

1^24 Mexico (revival) City of Mexico.... Pennsylvania. 

Wisconsin Green Bay New York. 

1825 Argentine Republic . Buenos Ayres Pennsylvania. 

1^3-2 Uruguay Montevideo Pennsylvania. 

Algeria Algiers France. 

1833 V. S. Colombia Carthagena Spain. 

1834 South Australia Adelaide England. 

Society Islands Tahiti France. 

1835 Texas Brazoria Louisiana. 

1840 Chili Valparaiso France. 

1841 Victoria Melbourne England. 

1842 West Australia Perth England. 

Iowa Montrose Illinois. 

1843 New Zealand Akaroa France. 

1848 California Sacramento Dist. Columbia. 

1849 Minnesota St. Paul Ohio. 

1850 Oregon Oregon City California. 

Sandwich Islands . . .Honolulu France and Cal. 

Marquesas Nukahiva France. 

1851 New Mexico Santa Fe Missouri. 

1S52 Washington Olympia Oregon. 

1854 Kansas.. Wyandotte Missouri. 

1855 Nebraska Illinois. 

Indian Territory Muscogee Arkansas. 

1857 Ecuador Guayaquil Peru. 

1859 Roumania Bucharest France. 

Queensland Brisbane England. 

1860 Porto Rico Mayaguez Cuba. 

Tunis Tunis France. 

1861 Colorado Golden City Nebraska. 

1862 Nevada Carson City California. 

Dakota Yankton Iowa. 

1863 Montana Bannock Nebraska. 



26 



FREEMASONRY 



FIRST MASONIC LODGES. LOCATION. CHARTERED PROM. 

1863 Idaho Idaho City Oregon. 

West Virginia Sep. f r. Va. 

1864 New Caledonia Noumea France. 

1866 Japan Yeddo England. 

Utah Salt Lake City Nevada. 

Arizona Prescott California. 

1867 Morocco Tangiers France. 

Liberia Monrovia England. 

Costa Rica San Jose Spain. 

1868 Wyoming Cheyenne Colorado. 

1875 Fiji Islands Levuka Scotland. 

Bolivia Peru. 

187- Servia . .Belgrade Italy. 

1880 Philippine Islands . .Manila Spain. 

1881 Paraguay Asuncion Brazil. 

Guatemala Carthagena U. S. Colombia. 

1882 San Salvator Costa Rica. 

1883 Celebes Islands Macassar Holland. 

1885 Borneo Elopuro England. 

An accompanying chart makes plain the 
importance of the work done by the earlier 
English Grand Lodges and by the United 
Grand Lodge of England in propagating 
Freemasonry. The English Rite was car- 
ried to France in 1725, where it became 
quite as popular as in England ; to Ireland 
in 1726, and to Scotland in 1727. In 1727 it 
was also taken to Spain ; to Germany, Penn- 
sylvania, and to India in 1730 ; to the Neth- 
erlands and to Russia in 1731 ; to Massa- 
chusetts in 1733 ; and to Portugal, Nor- 
way, Sweden, Italy, and Georgia in 1735 ; so 
that within ten years Masonic Lodges had 
been established throughout the United 
Kingdom, at nearly all the larger conti- 
nental cities, at Calcutta, India, and at 
Philadelphia, Boston, Charleston, Wil- 
mington, N.C., and at Savannah, in the 
American colonies. All this was the result 
of the activity of the Grand Lodge of Eng- 
land, with the exception of the Lodge at 
Stockholm, which was instituted by French 
Freemasons. Reference to the chart shows 
that next to English Grand Lodges, 
French Grand bodies were most active in 
creating Lodges abroad ; after which, in 
the order named, rank parent bodies in 
Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Virginia, Ire- 
land, Spain, the Netherlands, and Ger- 
many. Prior to the present century, the 
American Masonic doctrine of exclusive 
territorial jurisdiction was practically un- 
known ; and while an accompanying chart 
indicates the sources of only the first Ma- 
sonic Lodges, subsequent Lodges were fre- 
quently of another allegiance. The Grand 



Lodge of Ireland is responsible for the first 
Lodges in New South Wales, St. Vincent, 
and Tasmania, but has chartered many 
other Lodges in foreign lands and in Brit- 
ish colonies, where some other Grand Body 
had preceded them ; and the like is true of 
Grand Lodges of England, France, Spain, 
Holland, and Pennsylvania. A dispute as 
to whether the first Masonic Lodge in what 
is now the United States was opened at 
Philadelphia or at Boston continued for 
many years, but the weight of evidence is 
declared, by those who are considered 
authorities, to favor Philadelphia. The 
first Lodge at Philadelphia, 1730-31, is 
believed to have been a voluntary one, as 
there is no record of its having been char- 
tered until a year or two later. It was in 
the same year, 1730, that Daniel Coxe of 
New Jersey was appointed Provincial Grand 
Master of New York, New Jersey, and Penn- 
sylvania, but he is not known to have ever 
exercised his authority as such. The first 
Philadelphia Lodge assumed the preroga- 
tives of a Provincial Grand Lodge of Penn- 
sylvania in 1732, and in 1734 Benjamin 
Franklin was elected Provincial Grand Mas- 
ter, to which office he was also appointed in 
1849 by Thomas Oxnard of Boston, Provin- 
cial Grand Master of all North America. 
In 1764 the Grand Lodge of Ancients, in 
London, chartered a Lodge in Philadelphia 
and organized a rival Grand Lodge, which 
was evidently possessed of more active 
members than the older Pennsylvania Grand 
body, which discontinued its labors about 
1793. The Provincial Grand Lodge of 
Pennsylvania, formed by the Ancients, was 
responsible for the activity shown by Free- 
masons of that colony in establishing 
Lodges, not only in the colonies (later the 
United States), but in other parts of the 
world, and continues the governing body of 
the Craft in Pennsylvania to this day. In 
1786, following like action in Massachu- 
setts, it declared itself an independent and 
sovereign Grand Lodge. At Boston, in 
1733, Henry Price, claiming authority from 



FREEMASONRY 



27 



the Grand Lodge of England, as Provincial 
Grand Master of New England, opened a 
Provincial Grand Lodge, and, with the aid 
of ten brethren, initiated eight candidates. 
This Lodge and the Philadelphia Lodge, 
which initiated Benjamin Franklin in 1734 
and subsequently met as a Grand Lodge, 
became the Mother Grand Lodges of 
America. The Price, or St. John's, Grand 
Lodge had smooth sailing until 1752, when 
several brethren in Boston instituted St. 
Andrew's Lodge, according to the old 
usage, without a warrant. This was op- 
posed by St. John's Grand Lodge, and re- 
sulted in a schism which lasted forty years. 
In 1760 St. Andrew's received a charter 
from the Grand Lodge of Scotland, which 
widened the breach. In 1769 it united 
with several Ancient military Lodges in 
forming Massachusetts Grand Lodge, with 
Joseph Warren as " Grand Master of Ma- 
sons in Boston, New England, and Within 
One Hundred Miles of the Same." In 
1773 Joseph Warren was appointed, by the 
Grand Master of Scotland, Grand Master 
of Masons for the Continent of America. 
The death of Warren, at Bunker Hill. 
resulted in the Massachusetts Grand Lodge 
declaring itsindejoendence and sovereignty. 
thus becoming the first independent Grand 
Lodge of Masons in America. In 1792 the 
Grand Lodge for the Commonwealth of 
Massachusetts was formed by the union of 
St. John's and the Massachusetts Grand 
Lodges, since which time the history of 
the Craft in that State has not been 
marked by dissension. (See Freemasonry 
among the Negroes.) Successors to Dan- 
iel Coxe, as Provincial Grand Master 
for New York and New Jersey, did noth- 
ing in an official capacity, so far as 
has been learned, except to induct their 
successors into office, until 1754, or 1757, 
when a subordinate Lodge was established 
in New York city. This was about twenty 
years after the Grand Lodge of England 
had granted petitions for Lodges at Savan- 
nah, Ga., Charleston, S. C, and at Wil- 



mington, N. C. A schismatic Grand Lodge 
of Isew York appeared in Albany in 1823, 
the outgrowth of opposition to holding the 
Grand Lodge exclusively at New York city. 
Four years later, in 1827, the city and 
country Grand Lodges compromised their 
differences and united. H. C. At wood and 
others were expelled by the Grand Lodge 
of New York in 1837, for violation of regu- 
lations regarding public parades, which 
led to the formation of a St. John's Grand 
Lodge, all the members of which were 
declared clandestine, and remained so 
until the union of 1850. A number of 
other Lodges seceded from the regular 
Grand Lodge of New York in 1849, and 
formed a third, known as the Phillip's 
Grand Lodge. This schism was the out- 
come of a dispute as to the right of Past 
Masters to membership in the Grand 
Lodge. The matter was amicably adjusted 
in 1858, since which time the Grand Lodge 
of New York has not suffered from dissen- 
sion. South Carolina, like Pennsylvania, 
suffered from the rivalry between the 
Grand Lodges at London, when, in 1787, 
an Ancient Grand Lodge was established at 
Charleston. The breach continued until 
1808, when the opposing bodies united, 
only to separate again jn 1809. It was not 
until 1817, four years after the reunion of 
the Ancients and Moderns in England, 
that the warring South Carolina bodies 
finally healed their differences. In Georgia, 
where Freemasonry was also introduced 
direct from England, there were rival 
Grand Lodges between 1827 and 1839, 
owing to a controversy growing out of the 
change of the capital of the State. 

Russia is the only country in the world 
in which Masonic Lodges are suppressed. 
Austrian prohibition of Masonic gatherings 
is not enforced in Hungary and only moder- 
ately in Vienna. Spanish opposition to the 
Craft has long since ceased to be active. 
Representatives of the reigning family, or 
of the government, in every European 
country except Russia, Austria, Belgium, 



28 



FREEMASONRY 



and Turkey are members of the Fraternity. 
The removal of the name of Deity from its 
lectures by the Grand Orient of France 
more than twenty years ago, and of the 
Holy Bible from its altars, was followed by 
the refusal of English-speaking and other 
Grand Lodges to recognize members of 
Lodges chartered by the Grand Orient of 
France. France, therefore, is outside of the 
Masonic family. 

In the United Kingdom, during the 
eighteenth century, the adoption of 
"higher" or additional Masonic degrees 
was limited to the Royal Arch, Knight 
Templar, and Mark Master Mason ; but in 
France, very soon after Freemasonry was 
introduced there, many new degrees and 
rites made their appearance, in peddling 
which their inventors did a thriving busi- 
ness. Between 1725 and 1775 hundreds of 
what were called higher Masonic degrees 
were evolved and hawked over the Conti- 
nent. Some were meritorious, but many 
soon fell into obscurity, while a few still 
exist in collections of curious outgrowths 
of that character. In 1754, at Paris, the 
Chevalier Bonneville brought together and 
systematized twenty-five of the older and 
better productions among these high 
grades, as the Rite of Perfection, under 
the title, " Chapter of Clermont/'' Some 
of them were called Scottish because their 
legends traced their origin to Scotland. 
It would have risked exposure to attribute 
them to English ingenuity. They might 
have been given an Irish origin, because 
their authors had to go as far as possible 
from England and France. But Ireland 
evidently did not suit the purpose, and 
so the degrees were called Ecossais or 
Scotch, and were declared to have been 
conferred for many years in the north of 
Scotland. This, too, accounts for the al- 
leged connection of the partisans of the 
Stuarts with earlier Ecossais Freemasonry, 
some of its traditions stating that they in- 
troduced the degrees into France or were 
responsible for their creation. In 1758 a 



Council of Emperors of the East and 
West was organized at Paris, with a system 
of twenty-five degrees, and, as stated by 
McClenachan, "in some way became pos- 
sessed " of the Rite of Perfection, Chapter 
of Clermont, "and became its successor." 
In 1761 the Council of Emperors of the 
East and West granted a patent to Stephen 
Morin to introduce this rite (of twenty-five 
degrees) into the West Indies, after which, 
in 1772, it united with a faction of the 
Grand Orient (which controlled the first 
three degrees of Freemasonry in France), 
known as the " Old Grand Lodge," which 
factional Grand Lodge died four months 
later. In 1779, or seven years later, the 
Grand Orient officially declared its power 
limited to the three symbolic degrees, and 
that it had no official knowledge of so- 
called high grades. In 1786 the Grand 
Orient organized and promulgated the 
French rite of seven degrees, adding to 
the three symbolic degrees four from the 
abundant material floating about the Con- 
tinent. The importance of this is to show 
that long prior to the French Revolution 
the Grand Orient of France neither pos- 
sessed nor claimed to control the Rite of 
Perfection of twenty-five degrees which 
appeared in 1754 as a system under the title 
" Chapter of Clermont," and disappeared 
with the death of the factional or "Old 
Grand Lodge." In the Rite of Perfection, 
Chapter of Clermont, one finds the origin 
of the Ancient, Accepted Scottish Rite, 
thirty-three degrees, which was created 
and first appeared at Charleston, South 
Carolina, in 1801. Of this rite, Gould 
(F. R.), in his "History of Freemasonry" 
(vol. iii., page 273), says: "Although one 
of the youngest of the Masonic rites, it is 
at this day (1886) the most popular and the 
most extensively diffused. Supreme Coun- 
cils or governing bodies of the rite are to 
be found in almost every civilized country 
of the world, and in many of them it is the 
only Masonic obedience." The three sym- 
bolic degrees of ancient Freemasonry 



FREEMASONRY 



29 



underlie all Masonic systems or rites, and 
upon that fact is based the claim of the 
universality of Freemasonry. The Eng- 
lish Rite alone confines itself to the three 
degrees of Entered Apprentice, Fellow- 
craft, and Master Mason, "including the 
Holy Royal Arch," but upon it have been 
erected the many Masonic systems or rites 
which during the past one hundred and 
sixty years have attracted the interest of 
the Craft. 

Students will find extended lists of the 
more important Masonic rites or systems of 
degrees, living and dead, in the works of 
many Masonic historians ; but nowhere, so 
far as learned, has there been given a brief, 
chronological account of them and their 
characteristics so as to enable the young 
craftsman to distinguish between those 
which have passed away and those which 
are still practised. There are ten Masonic 
rites in use to-day. Two of them, the Eng- 
lish, which includes the first three or sym- 
bolic degrees, and together with the Royal 
Arch forms the basis of all systems or rites, 
and the Ancient, Accepted Scottish Rite of 
thirty-three degrees, are ranked as univer- 
sal. The American Rite is next in impor- 
tance, and is practised in the United States 
and the Dominion of Canada, where are 
to be found three-fourths of all the Free- 
masons in the world. The Rite of the 
Grand Lodge of the Three Globes, Ger- 
many, is third in importance, after which 
follow the French Rite, the Swedish Rite, 
or Rite of Zinnendorf, Schroder's Rite (in 
use by a few German Lodges), the French 
Order of the Temple, the Rite of Memphis 
(in Ron mania, Spain, and Egypt), and the 
Rite of Swedenborg. 

1724. The English, erroneously called 
the York Rite, is composed of the degrees 
of Entered Apprentice, Fellowcraft, and 
Master Mason, the three ancient, symbolic 
degrees which were practically perfected 
and conferred as a system about 1724, or 
shortly after, to which was formally ap- 
pended the Royal Arch degree, in 1813, at 



the reunion of the two English Grand 
Lodges, the change involving a modification 
of the degree of Master Mason. 

1777. The Rite of the Grand Lodge of 
Three Globes is practised by more than two 
hundred German Lodges. It consists of the 
three symbolic degrees and seven others, 
which are modifications of the German 
Strict Observance Templar and various 
Scottish Rite grades. 

1777. The Swedish Rite exists only in 
Xorway and Sweden, where it is under the 
patronage of royalty. It is a mixture of the 
English and French Rites, of the Templar- 
ism of the Rite of Strict Observance, and of 
Rosicrucianism. 

1783. The Rite of Swedenborg is pre- 
served in a few French Lodges. It is 
founded on Pernetty's Rite of Avignon, 
which appeared in France in 1769. It in- 
volves, like Pernetty's system, much of the 
mysticism of Swedenborg, who, by the way, 
was not a Freemason. 

1786. The French, or Modern Rite, as 
explained, consists of the English system, 
upon which are superimposed four degrees 
formed from some of the many unsystema- 
tized ceremonials practised on the Continent 
of Europe in the latter half of the last cen- 
tury. 

1801. Schroder's Rite is still cultivated 
by a few German Lodges, notably at Ham- 
burg. It is confined to the three ancient 
craft degrees and a Select Historical Union 
of Master Masons for the study of the phi- 
losophy of Freemasonry. 

1801. The Ancient, Accepted Scottish 
Rite, referred to elsewhere. 

1816. The American Rite, substantially 
as it exists to-day, may be said to date from 
the first decade of the present century. It 
is referred to under a separate head. 

1839. The Rite of Memphis, youngest of 
living Masonic systems, is described under 
that title. 

There are more than 1,400,000 active 
Freemasons in the world, all of whom, of 
course, are practically familiar with the 



30 



FREEMASONRY 



three degrees of the English Kite. Of the 
total, probably 125,000 are in possession of 
the Ancient, Accepted Scottish Kite, and 
118,000 of the American Kite as conferred 
in Lodges, Chapters (Councils), and Com- 
manderies. There are 27,000 members of 
the French Rite, 4,000 of the Swedish Rite, 
20,000 of the Rite of the Grand Lodge of 
the Three Globes at Berlin, but only a very 
few who practise Schroder's Rite, the Rite 
of Swedenborg, or the French Order of the 
Temple. 

The more important among extinct 
Masonic Rites are twenty-two in number, 
thirteen of which appeared in France, six 
in Germany, and one each in England, 
Belgium, and Italy. 

1748. Rite of Vielle Bru, France, an in- 
vention of the adherents of the Stuarts 
while in exile. The Grand Orient of France 
killed it by refusing it recognition. 

1754. Rite of Perfection, Paris, France; 
already referred to. 

1754. Von Hund's Rite of Strict Observ- 
ance, Germany, was based on the Templar 
theory of the origin of Freemasonry, the 
legend of which taught that every Free- 
mason is a Knight Templar. This Rite, 
which was drawn from the earlier French 
Scottish Templar degrees, which ultimately 
were formed into the Rite of Perfection, 
into which Von Hund was received in 
Paris, exercised considerable influence over 
succeeding systems. 

1758. Emperors of the East and West ; 
already referred to. 

1765. The Rite of Elected Cohens 
(Priests), France, was based on the mysti- 
cism of the Jewish Kabbala. 

1766. The Rite of the Blazing Star re- 
vived the legends and ceremonials of chiv- 
alry. 

1767. Rite of Chastenier, France, theo- 
sophical and mystical, was introduced into 
England, but did not live long. 

1769. Pernetty's Rite of Avignon, France, 
was a revel in mysticism. Pernetty is said 
to have been the author of the degree of the 



Knight of the Sun, now the twenty-eighth 
of the Ancient, Accepted Scottish Rite. 
His Rite of Avignon had great influence on 
several which followed it. 

1770. Rite of Martinism, France, a com- 
bination of Scottish degrees with the specu- 
lations of the mystics. 

1772. Reformed Rite, a German modifica- 
tion of the Rite of Strict Observance. 

1773. Rite of Philalethes, France, based 
on the Rite of Martinism. It lived about 
twenty years. 

1775. The Philosophic Scotch Rite, 
France, was a revival of Pernetty's Rite of 
Avignon, combined with Rosicrucianism 
and suggestions from the Pythagoreans. 

1776. The Rite of the Elect of Truth, 
France, was philosophical. 

1777. The Egyptian Rite, of Cagliostro, 
was the work of that prince of adventurers 
and impostors. Cagliostro was made a Free- 
mason in London in 1776, and immediately 
set to work to form a " Masonic " system of 
his own, into which he introduced the search 
for the philosopher's stone, and physical and 
moral regeneration. He traveled through 
Europe, establishing Lodges and selling de- 
grees, often to princes, prelates, and philo- 
sophers. After a career of monumental 
effrontery, deception, and dishonesty, he 
was sentenced to death in 1789 at Rome by 
the Holy Inquisition, and his manuscript, 
"Maconnerie Egyptienne," was publicly 
burned. The Pope commuted his sentence 
to imprisonment for life. He died in prison 
in 1795. 

1780. The Primitive Rite of Philadelphes 
(Primitive Rite of Narbonne). was founded 
at Narbonne, France, by pretended " Supe- 
riors of the Order of Free and Accepted 
Masons." lis degrees were divided into 
three classes, in which were treated the oc- 
cult sciences and the rehabilitation and re- 
integration of man in his primitive rank 
and prerogatives. 

1780. The Rite of Brothers of Asia, Ger- 
man, was composed of a mixture of religious 
faiths, science, and the reveries of the mystics. 




CHART SHOWING THE RELATIVE MEMBERSHIP OF LEADING LIVING MASONIC RITES. 



32 



FREEMASONRY 



1782. The Beneficent Knights of the 
Holy City, France, included some of the 
mystical speculations for which the last cen- 
tury was noted, and the early Scottish de- 
gree of Templarism. 

1783. Fessler's Eite, Germany, consisted 
of nine degrees, based on the Golden Eose 
Croix, the Eite of Strict Observance, and 
the Eite of Perfection. It professed to be 
abstrusely learned. 

1784. The Eeformed Helvetic Eite, Ger- 
many, was a modification of the Eeformed 
Eite of 1772, and was used in Poland. 

1787. The Eite of African Architects was 
the successor of a rite with a similar name, 
1767. It appeared in Germany and was 
patronized by Frederick II. Its objects 
were to rescue Freemasonry from innovation 
and to study philosophy. 

1805. The Eite of Mizraim is referred to 
elsewhere. 

1818. Primitive Scottish Eite, thirty- three 
degrees, Belgium, was based on the Eites of 
Perfection and Strict Observance, and fol- 
lowed the Adonhiramite theory as to the 
principal officers at the building of King 
Solomon's Temple, which characterized so 
many of the Continental rites in the latter 
part of the last century, and still has an in- 
fluence in some of the minor living rites. 
It never went beyond the city of its birth. 

Freemasonry in the eighteenth century 
was characterized by its rapid spread from 
England throughout the world, by the avid- 
ity with which able and learned men inter- 
ested themselves in it, in many instances 
only to extend, elaborate, or embroider its 
ritual and ceremonials, and by the schism 
in England which lasted from 1751 to 1813. 
It met with the antagonism of pope and 
pamphleteer, and the exiled Stuarts vainly 
sought to use it in an effort to regain the 
English throne. The Order of Odd Fel- 
lows made its appearance in London be- 
fore 1740, a variety of democratized Free- 
masonry, and was followed by the Druids 
in 1760 and by the Foresters in 1780, types 
of the sincerest form of flattery, when 



judged from the point of view of the Free- 
mason of that day. The Orange Institution 
appeared at the close of the last century, an 
open imitator of the Masonic Fraternity so 
far as some of its forms and ceremonies are 
concerned. American Provincial Grand 
Lodges after the close of the War of the 
Eevolution declared their independence of 
English mother Grand Lodges, and at the 
end of the century an effort was made to 
form a Supreme Grand Lodge of the United 
States with Washington as Supreme Grand 
Master. Washington's death prevented the 
success of the plan, and when the subject 
was brought up again in 1822, it was re- 
ceived with less favor. Between 1827 and 
1840 the Craft suffered from political per- 
secution and unreasoning warfare which 
grew out of the " Morgan excitement ; rt but 
beginning in 1843, it grew and prospered 
beyond all previous records until its growth 
was checked by the Civil War. Since 1865 
its popularity and prosperity in the United 
States, Canada, Great Britain, the British 
colonies, and elsewhere throughout the world 
have been beyond all precedent. 

TJie American Rite. — Practised only in 
the United States of America and the Do- 
minion of Canada. It adds to the three 
symbolic degrees of the English Eite, first, 
the degrees of Mark Master, Past Master, 
Most Excellent Master, and Eoyal Arch Ma- 
son, which are conferred in Eoyal Arch 
Chapters federated into Grand Chapters, 
and a General Grand Chapter of the United 
States of America; second, the degrees of 
Eoyal Master, Select Master, and of Super- 
Excellent Master, conferred in Councils of 
Eoyal and Select Masters, which have a sys- 
tem of state and general government similar 
to that of Eoyal Arch Chapters; and, third, 
Companion of the Illustrious Order of the 
Eed Cross, Knight Templar, and Knight of 
St. John and Malta, under the authority of 
chartered Commanderies of Knights Tem- 
plars. There are no very marked differ- 
ences between the Entered Apprentice and 
Fellowcraft degrees as conferred in the 



FREEMASONRY 



33 



United States and in England; but while 
the peculiarity which marks the third de- 
gree is met with in every Masonic Lodge, 
American Lodges have taken marked liber- 
ties with it. Several so-called essentials are 
omitted altogether, and the one which 
should be universal, if any portion of the 
degree is to be, is totally unlike anything 
communicated under that name in many 
ioreign Lodges. , American Lodges tend to 
emphasize the dramatic possibilities of the 
Master Mason degree, while in England and 
on the Continent the greater portion of the 
characteristic part of the degree is commu- 
nicated. The claim of universality for the 
English Eite rests on its substance rather 
than form; for certain "accompanying" 
words, the letter G, and a most important 
sign are far from being universal. Where 
this rite exists, it is recognized by Supreme 
Councils of the Aucient, Accepted Scottish 
Eite, which thereupon begin their labors 
with the fourth degree. In countries where 
the Ancient, Accepted Scottish Eite pre- 
ceded the English Eite, the former presents 
the three symbolic degrees of a genuinely 
universal type. In Germany and elsewhere 
on the Continent the work in the third de- 
gree has, in some systems or localities, been 
abused by the infusion of the Adonhiramite 
theory which made Adoniram rather than 
Hiram the conspicuous figure. The growth 
of this heresy in the eighteenth century was 
due to a confusion of philological and his- 
torical data and to the ignorance of those 
responsible for it. But this alteration, like 
American changes in the English Eite. has 
become a part of the tree on which it 
was grafted, and constitutes something in 
the nature of local color. The arrangement 
of the Words in the first and second degrees 
was reversed by the Ancient, or schismatic, 
Grand Lodge of England, in order to de- 
tect visitors from the rival obedience. The 
dominance of the Ancient Grand Lodge in 
the American colonies naturally brought the 
variation into Lodges here; but in Germany, 
France, Norway, and some other countries 



where Freemasonry was introduced prior to 
1751, visiting American and English Free- 
masons find a singular and, to some, inex- 
plicable reversal of what they were taught. 
The honorary degree of Past Master is con- 
ferred only on Master Masons who have been 
regularly elected and installed Masters of 
Lodges. It did not take the form of a de- 
gree until early in the present century in 
the United States. It was conferred on 
actual Masters of Lodges and on Past Mas- 
ters early in the last century, merely as a 
ceremonial, and in 1744 began to be referred 
to as "passing the chair." Its place in 
Eoyal Arch Chapters in the United States 
is referred to hereafter. 

Chapters of Eoyal Arch Masons in the 
L'nited States confer the capitular degrees 
of Mark Master, (virtual) Past Master, Most 
Excellent Master, and Eoyal Arch Mason 
upon such Master Masons as apply for and 
are elected to receive them.* This system, 
culminating in the Eoyal Arch, is a purely 
American arrangement, and is found only 
in the United States, the Dominion of Can- 
ada, and in the relatively few Chapters in 
Mexico and elsewhere abroad chartered 
from the United States. The Eoyal Arch 
degree in England was originally conferred, 
probably as early as 1740, in some of the 
seceding Lodges of 1739 which united, in 
1 751 and formed the Ancient Grand Lodge; 
for, even in 1740, twenty-three years after 
the formation of the Grand Lodge of Eng- 
land in 1717, several rebellious Lodges 
claimed to have secrets in reference to the 
Master's degree which were unknown in 
Lodges loyal to the mother Grand Lodge. 
It must, therefore, have been in Lodges 
which in 1751 formed the schismatic Grand 
Lodge that the Master's degree was muti- 
lated to form the Eoyal Arch, because as early 
as 1735 all of the original essentials of the 
Master's degree remained intact. While gen- 
erally conferred in Lodges as a supplement 

* The exception is in Pennsylvania, where the 
Grand Chapter rejects the Mark and Most Excellent 
Masters' degrees. 



34 



FREEMASONRY 



to the Master's degree for several years 
after the schism, Eoyal Arch Chapters ulti- 
mately came into existence, and afterward 
a Supreme Eoyal Arch Chapter. The An- 
cients announced the existence of the Eoyal 
Arch degree in its " Ahiman Eezon," or 
book of constitutions, in 1756, but as late as 
1758 the Moderns denied all knowledge of it. 
Dunckerly, the celebrated ritualist, intro- 
duced the Eoyal Arch degree to the Moderns, 
or mother organization of modern Free- 
masonry, in 1770, by which it was adopted 
in 1779, together with a system of subordi- 
nate Chapters afterward governed by a Su- 
preme Eoyal Arch Chapter. At the union 
of the rival English Grand Lodges in 1813 
the Eoyal Arch of the Ancients was made 
supplementary to the degree of Master Ma- 
son, and in 1817 the rival Supreme Chapters 
united. From that day to this the English 
Eite has conferred the Eoyal Arch on Mas- 
ter Masons elected to receive it, in contrast 
with the American system, which requires 
a Master Mason to first receive the degrees 
of Mark Master, (virtual) Past Master, and 
Most Excellent Master, prior to being "ex- 
alted." Before the Moderns adopted the 
Eoyal Arch degree the Ancients had been 
conferring it only on Masters of Lodges ; but 
both the Moderns and Ancients, in order to 
popularize the degree, admitted during the 
latter portion of the eighteenth century, not 
only actual Past Masters, but those made so 
by dispensation of a Grand Master for that 
purpose. This practice was brought to the 
American colonies by British army Lodges 
and explains the existence in the American 
Eoyal Arch Chapter of the degree of virtual 
Past Master. 

The Mark Master's, or fourth degree of 
the American Eite, is of undoubted English 
origin, and while conferred only on Master 
Masons, forms a graceful appendage to the 
degree of Eellowcraft. It is based on the 
practice of ancient operative Freemasons 
of selecting particular marks which they 
could no more alter or change than they 
could their names, with which they marked 



their work, and utilized, as otherwise related, 
in legendary and historical records. The 
degree is traced to Dunham, England, 1774, 
when it was conferred in symbolic Lodges as 
a side or unsystematized ceremonial. It be- 
came popular and spread throughout the 
Kingdom, but the United Grand Lodges of 
England (1813) refused to recognize it. 
Gradually it separated from symbolic Lodges 
and was conferred in Mark Lodges. In 1856 
the English Grand Lodge of Mark Master 
Masons was formed, which maintains cor- 
dial relations with American Grand Eoyal 
Arch Chapters. In 1792-93 St. Andrew's 
Eoyal Arch Lodge, Boston, incorporated 
the Mark Master's degree, and the latter 
soon after appeared as a detached degree 
in other American Lodges. 

The Past Master's degree, as such, which 
is of American origin and forms the fifth 
degree of the American Eite, did not ap- 
pear until the second decade of the present 
century. Prior to that time Past Masters 
were those who had actually presided over 
Lodges or who had received dispensations 
from Grand Masters permitting them to 
assume the title to render them eligible to 
the Eoyal Arch degree. The advisability 
of the introduction of the degree into the 
American capitular system has often been 
and still is seriously questioned. 

The Most Excellent Master's, or sixth de- 
gree of the American Eite, an American in- 
vention, is supposed to have first appeared at 
Albany, N. Y., in 1795 ; to have been the 
invention of John Hanmer, an accomplished 
Masonic ritualist of England then visiting 
the Craft, and to have been elaborated by 
Thomas Smith Webb, Past Grand Master 
of Ehode Island, the well-known Ameri- 
can Masonic ritualist, who left so deep an 
impress on the formation of what has be- 
come the American Eite of Freemasonry. 
It celebrates the completion and dedication 
of the first Temple, and so supplies a link 
between the Master Mason and the Eoyal 
Arch degree, of which it is the immediate 
predecessor. 



FREEMASONRY 



35 



The essentials of the original Master Ma- 
son degree are believed to have appeared in 
new form, in that which became the Eoyal 
Arch, in France, between 1838 and 1840. 
That the Master's degree prior thereto con- 
tained something which gives the Eoyal 
Arch its distinctive connection with it, 
has been shown in many ways, notably 
in an old French print illustrating an im- 
portant ceremony in the third degree, in 
which a Name appears. The origin of 
the Koyal Arch has often been erroneously 
attributed to the Chevalier Eamsay, one 
of the learned Freemasons of the first half 
of the eighteenth century and an alleged 
partisan of the exiled Stuart. The only rea- 
son for believing that Eamsay had anything 
to do with it was the fact that he had the 
ability to construct such a ceremonial, and 
was for a brief period associated with the 
young Pretender. Beginning about 1738-40 
French Masonic ritualists and others began 
the construction of additional degrees called 
Scottish, which they superimposed upon 
the three symbolic degrees. The Chevalier 
Eamsay, born at Ayr, Scotland, in 1786, 
was made a Freemason at London about 
1728. He was a tutor to the sons of the 
Pretender in Eome for fifteen months, be- 
tween 1725 and 1727, after which he re- 
turned to England, and was prominent 
among London Freemasons and literary 
men until 1737, when he went to Paris. In 
the same year he delivered his now famous 
speech on Freemasonry, in which he merely 
elaborated Anderson traditions as to the ori- 
gin of the Fraternity. Nowhere did he 
speak of Templary, but he did advance a 
theory that some of the Crusaders under 
Prince Edward, son of Edward III., who 
had become Knights of St. John in the 
Holy Land (not St. John of Malta), returned 
to England, and, under the patronage of 
the Prince, took the name of Freemasons. 
He declared that a Lodge was established at 
Kilwinning, in Scotland, in 1286, but that 
it afterward declined, and that it was the 
English Masonic Crusaders who perpetuated 



Freemasonry. Gould presumes the refer- 
ence to Kilwinning was a rhetorical flour- 
ish due to his Scotch origin and familiarity 
with Scotland, for the statement requires no 
refutation. His theory as to the chivalric 
origin of Freemasonry, whether or not a 
delicate compliment to the distinguished 
company he was addressing, was only a the- 
ory, for it had no foundation. This address 
had unlooked-for and somewhat remarkable 
results. Its first effect was to furnish an 
alleged authority for the legends of many 
of the Scottish degrees which appeared in 
France within the next few years, for the 
cultivation of the Templar theory of the 
origin of Freemasonry which they presented, 
and for their supposititious Scottish origin. 
A second result was the charge that Eamsa3 r 
was himself the inventor of Scottish degrees, 
owing to his friendship for the young Pre- 
tender, and that the ulterior purpose of 
those degrees was to draw adherents to, and 
gain money for, the claimant of the British 
throne. This was almost universally be- 
lieved by otherwise well-informed students 
of the origin of the Scottish degrees of 1739- 
50, until Gould, in a careful examination 
of the subject a dozen years ago, showed its 
absurdity. Eamsay was a liberal Catholic, 
and was antagonized by the Jesuits, who 
were connected with the earlier fabrication 
of some of the Scottish degrees. There is 
absolutely no proof that Eamsay sympa- 
thized with the Stuarts, and there is much 
that he did not. That he ever invented any 
Masonic degree has never been shown. That 
his speech was used by French degree- 
makers between 1740 and 1750 to give a 
status to their creations, and that his name 
was used for the same purpose, require no ar- 
gument. After writing two letters to Cardi- 
nal Fleury, the French Prime Minister, 
March 20 and 22, 1737 (see Gould's " His- 
tory of Freemasonry," vol. iii., pp. 337, 
338), urging official protection of Free- 
masonry, which might well be read, in all 
sincerity, by Pope Leo XIII., Eamsay re- 
turned to London and was not heard of 



36 



FREEMASONRY 



again publicly until his death in 1743. The 
early Scottish degrees which appeared in 
France, fabulously attributed to Scotland, 
though dissimilar in one respect, had a 
legend in common — that of the discovery of 
a loug lost and Ineffable Word in a secret 
vault by Scottish Crusaders. In this is 
found the germ of the Royal Arch degree, 
not only that of Enoch, the earlier Scottish 
degree sublimated into the thirteenth of the 
Ancient, Accepted Scottish Rite of to-day, 
but of the English or Royal Arch of Zerub- 
babel. These (French) Scottish degrees, 
with the vault and Arch, one or more of 
them, were carried into England, and first 
heard of at York, in the independent Grand 
Lodge at that city, whence Kilwinning 
Lodge, Dublin, received it at the hands of 
a visiting brother prior to 1744. Laurence 
Dermott was made a Freemason at Dublin 
in 1744, and received the Royal Arch degree 
there in 1746. He modified and introduced 
it into seceding Lodges at London. The re- 
sult was the English or Royal Arch of Zerub- 
babel in distinction from the Royal Arch of 
Enoch, now the thirteenth degree of the 
Ancient, Accepted Scottish Rite, into which 
the Royal xirch became incorporated through 
having been absorbed into the French Rite 
of Perfection in 1754, and by the Emperors 
of the East and West in 1758, from which 
we get the Ancient, Accepted Scottish Rite 
of 1801. British army Lodges, most of 
them hailing from the schismatic Grand 
Lodge, brought this degree, as well as the 
Mark, to the American colonies. The first 
Royal Arch Chapter held here was under 
that title, " No. 3," at Philadelphia, but the 
degree was first conferred in St. Andrew's 
Royal Arch Lodge, Boston, afterward St. 
Andrew's Royal Arch Chapter, in 1769, 
and soon after it was found in New York 
city and at various points in New England. 
The first Royal Arch Chapter in New York 
city (independent) was chartered by Pro- 
vincial Grand Master George Harrison in 
1757. The Royal Arch degree, the seventh 
of the American Rite, constitutes the sum- 



mit and perfection of symbolic Freemasonry. 
It is conferred on no more or less than three 
persons at the same time, and treats of the 
destruction of the first Temple at Jerusalem 
and the building of the second Temple, to- 
gether with important discoveries made on 
the return of the Jews from the Babylonish 
captivity. Prior to 1795, the Mark, Most 
Excellent, and Royal Arch ceremonials were 
conferred in America as detached degrees, 
generally in Lodges, that last named some- 
times in Chapters held under cover of Lodge 
warrants. The Royal Arch Chapter was 
convened at Philadelphia in 1795 by James 
Molan, in which the four capitular degrees 
were for the first time conferred as at pres- 
ent, in regular order, Mark Master, Past 
Master, Most Excellent Master, and Royal 
Arch Mason. In 1798 delegates from nine 
Royal Arch Chapters, six from New Eng- 
land, and three from New York State, met 
at Hartford, Conn., and formed a Grand 
Royal Arch Chapter of the Northern States 
of America, which, in 1806, became the 
General Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Ma- 
sons for the United States of America, 
which meets triennially to this day, and is 
the governing body of American Grand 
Royal Arch Chapters, except Grand Chap- 
ters in Pennsylvania, where the Grand Chap- 
ter is subordinate to the Grand Lodge; in 
Virginia, founded in 1808, and in West Vir- 
ginia (1871), where they remain indepen- 
dent. In Virginia and West Virginia what 
are known as the Council degrees, elsewhere 
the eighth and ninth of the American Rite 
(Royal Master and Select Master), are con- 
ferred in Royal Arch Chapters. The hon- 
orary Order of High Priesthood, first heard 
of in Pennsylvania in 1825, is conferred by 
Past High Priests on Royal Arch Masons 
who have been regularly elected, to preside 
over Royal Arch Chapters. 

The eighth, ninth, and tenth, the Cryptic 
degrees of the American Rite, are the Royal 
Master, Select Master, and Super-Excellent 
Master respectively, and are so called be- 
cause the first two treat of a secret vault. 



FREEMASONRY 



37 



They are conferred in Councils of Eoyal and 
Select Masters which are federated into 
.Grand Councils and a General Council of 
the United States of America. With few 
exceptions, Grand Commanderies of Knights 
Templars do not require the possession of 
the Cryptic degrees by candidates for Orders 
conferred in Commanderies. The Cryptic 
degrees are also worked in England and 
Canada, where they were taken from the 
United States, and form interesting supple- 
ments to the Master's and the Royal Arch 
degrees. The Eoyal and the Select Masters' 
degrees, formerly unattached, honorary, 
Scottish Rite degrees, were introduced into 
America, jorobably at Albany, in 1767, by 
Fraucken (see Ancient, Accepted Scottish 
Rite); into Charleston in 1783 by Scottish 
Rite Masons who received them from 
Francken ; into Georgia in 1796 ; and into 
New York in 1808, where in 1810 a Grand 
Council was formed. They were originally 
conferred at will upon Royal Arch Masons 
by those empowered to do so, and after 1820 
gradually found their way into separate 
bodies called Councils, convened by Royal 
and Select Masters for that purpose, al- 
though the Supreme Council, Ancient, Ac- 
cepted Scottish Rite, Southern Masonic Jur- 
isdiction, United States of America, claimed 
without exercising much jurisdiction over 
the degrees, until 1870, when it relinquished 
authority over them to Grand Councils of 
Royal and Select Masters, which had grown 
up much the same as did the earlier Grand 
Chapters of Royal Arch Masons. In A'ir- 
ginia and Maryland both degrees are con- 
ferred in Chapters prior to the Royal Arch 
degree'. The Royal Master's degree repre- 
sents the search by the Fellowcraft Adoni- 
ram, prior to the tragedy of the third de- 
gree, for that which was to be the reward 
of faithful craftsmen. In the following 
degree the deposit is made by the master 
builder which w T as brought to light at the 
building of the second Temple. The origin 
of the honorary degree of Super-Excellent 
Master is unknown, but is believed to be 



native. It has no connection with the two 
which precede it, and is an elaboration of 
that portion of the Royal Arch which re- 
lates to the destruction of the first Temple 
by Nebuzaradan. 

There have been various theories as to 
the origin of Masonic Knights Templars, 
and it is surprising that only within the last 
thirty years have Knights Templars them- 
selves made the necessary investigation to 
learn that they never had any connection 
with the Ancient Military and Religious 
Order of the Temple. The like is true, 
also, with reference to the Masonic Order of 
Knights of St. John and Malta. Among 
the theories to explain a direct connection 
between modern Knights Templars and the 
ancient order, the oldest is that having ref- 
erence to the Charter of Larmenius. When 
Jacques de Molay, Grand Master of the 
Templars, was in prison, he is said to have 
sent for Larmenius just prior to his death, 
and to have given him a charter appointing 
him his successor with power to name his 
own successor and so perpetuate the Order. 
In 1682, three hundred and sixty-four years 
afterward, a society was organized at Paris, 
called La Petite Resurrection des Templiers. 
Its members w r ere ton vivants among the 
younger element at the French court, and 
the organization became so much more con- 
spicuous for the cultivation of licentiousness 
than the knightly virtues, that it w r as sup- 
pressed by the king. In 1705, perhaps 
twenty years after its suppression, twelve 
vears before the revival of Freemasonry in 
England, and twenty years before its intro- 
duction into France, the society was revived 
by Philip, Duke of Orleans, as a secret po- 
litical organization, and declared a direct 
continuation of the Order of the Temple 
which was overthrown and dispersed by 
Pope Clement V. and Philip the Fair in 
1314. The authority for this w T as the char- 
ter of Larmenius, then first made public, with 
a list of signatures following the name of Lar- 
menius, as alleged succeeding -Grand Mas- 
ters. The Duke tried to obtain recognition 



38 



FREEMASONRY 



for his Order and for the charter from the 
Portuguese Order of Christ, said to have 
been formed by a number of De Molay's fol- 
lowers who escaped to Portugal and secured 
the protection of the king, with permission 
to continue their Order under the new title. 
Failing in this, the Orleans-Larmenius Order 
of the Temple fell into obscurity. It was 
last heard of as the Societe d'Aloyau (Beef- 
steak Club) about 1789. The Ee volution is 
supposed to have finished it. In 1804-5 
several clever, learned, but unscrupulous 
men came into the possession of the charter 
of Larmenius through having purchased a 
piece of antique furniture in which it had 
been secreted. It was an easy matter to 
bring the charter down to date, by adding 
names of alleged Grand Masters, after which 
the Order of the Temple was again revived 
(or created), and exists to this da}^, claiming 
to be the only true continuation of the orig- 
inal Templars. Its progress was not rapid 
in the first quarter of the century, and with 
the introduction of Freemasonry into France 
these French Templars incorporated the 
three symbolic degrees as the foundation 
of their rite. The German Eite of the 
Strict Observance obtained its Templar Or- 
der, as stated in its own legeud, through 
Peter Aumont, one of De Molay's associates 
who fled to Scotland. This statement and 
the fact that Yon Hund, who founded the 
rite, had received the earlier (French) Scot- 
tish degrees in Paris, prior to establishing 
his rite, are sufficient to show the fabulous 
character of the Aumont story. The Swed- 
ish Eite attributes its Order of the Temple 
to Count Beaujeu, a nephew of De Molay, 
who, it declares, became a member of the 
Order of Christ in Portugal, went to Swe- 
den, and there revived the true Order of the 
Temple. This story also is its own author- 
ity. The Scotch claim that the modern 
Scotch Templars descended from Knights 
of the ancient Order who fled to Scotland 
after the death of De Molay, and joined the 
ancient Masonic Lodge of working Freema- 
sons at Stirling. This also is one of those 



legends which have been repeated so often 
as to finally gain credence. There was no 
Knight Templary in Scotland when the 
young Pretender went there prior to his 
defeat at Culloden, although it has been so 
often stated that he was elected Grand Mas- 
ter of the Order of the Temple in Scotland 
in 1745, that the story has been looked upon 
as true. English modern Templary is said 
to have been derived from Baldwyn Encamp- 
ment at Bristol, which had existed "from 
time immemorial," or from one or more an- 
cient Encampments at London, York, Bath, 
and Salisbury, where refugee Knights of the 
ancient Order made their headquarters; but 
in the light of modern historical evidence it 
would be difficult to show that these English 
centres of ancient Templarism shielded any 
genuine Knights Templars four hundred 
years after the death of De Molay; that the 
haughty survivors of the ancient Order in 
England united with the operative Free- 
masons of the sixteenth and seventeenth 
centuries, or that either as Knights or Free- 
masons they survived until after the middle 
of the eighteenth century, when Masonic 
Templar degrees began to make their ap- 
pearance from France. 

The earliest recorded Temple degree at 
Baldwyn Encampment is not traced beyond 
1779 or 1780, ten years after some sort of 
Templary had appeared in the United States 
from Ireland. English Masonic Templary, 
including the degree of Knight of St. John 
of Ehodes, Palestine, and Malta (the union 
of which Orders legend- makers have ex- 
plained as due to the association of the early 
Templars and Knights of Malta in Scotland), 
took shape in 1791, six years prior to the 
first Grand Encampment formed in the 
United States, a General Conclave having 
been organized in that year by Dunckerly, 
the well-known English ritualist. In 1809 
the title was " The Eoyal, Exalted, Eeli- 
gious, and Military Order of H. E. D. M., 
Grand Elected Masonic Knights Templars, 
K. D. S. H. of St. John of Jerusalem, Pal- 
estine, Ehodes, etc." This* reference to 



FREEMASONRY 



39 



Herodem and to Kadosch points quite con- 
clusively to the absorption of earlier (French) 
Scottish degrees. At that period, too, 
" Lodges of Craft Masons and Chapters of 
the Eoyal Arch," it was declared by author- 
ity of the Eoyal Grand Patron, " pretend, by 
virtue of their respective Charters of Con- 
stitution, to admit Knights of the several 
Orders mentioned, and to confer the De- 
grees of Eosse Crucis to the said Orders an- 
nexed and thereon dependent;" and, says 
Hughan, "means were taken to prevent 
such irregularity." 

The clash between the English Supreme 
Body, which chose to absorb the chivalric 
degrees, and Lodges and Chapters which, 
as admitted, had long been conferring them 
without special authority, would seem to 
further show that these high grades were 
derived from the early Scottish degrees and 
their successors (from which it is admitted 
English Lodges received the germ of their 
Eoyal Arch), and not from surviving 
ancient Templary in England or Scotland. 
The Duke of Sussex became Grand Mas- 
ter of the exalted Orders in 1812, and con- 
tinued to act until his decease in 1843, 
Colonel Kemeys-Tynte succeeding him in 
1846. The Duke of Sussex was evidently not 
satisfied with what he received in the way of 
Masonic Templary from Dunckerly, for he 
asked for and obtained the ritual of the 
French Order of the Temple, which he used, 
as Mackey says, only once. He also applied 
to Alexander II. of Eussia, nomiual head of 
a surviving remnant of the ancient Knights 
of Malta in Eussia, and obtained authority 
to create Knights of that rank in England, 
which constitutes the nearest approach the 
English body can claim to any connection 
with the ancient Knights of Malta. The 
revival of the English Language of the an- 
cient Knights of St. John, Malta, etc., in 
England, in 1831, where it had been extinct 
for nearly three hundred years, brought to 
life an aristocratic social institution repre- 
senting the fourth inroad of Maltaism into 
the modern English Temple and Malta asso- 



ciation, the first being from the Dunckerly 
ritual, the second that imported from the 
French Order of the Temple, and the third 
from Eussia. In 1846 the Ancient, Ac- 
cepted Scottish Eite having finally been in- 
troduced into England, the Eose Croix and 
Kadosch degrees were " gradually restored " 
to that rite. The English Eeligious and 
Military Order of the Temple spread 
throughout the Kingdom, and in 1873 the 
Prince of AVales was installed Grand Master 
of the Convent General (founded in 1872), 
since composed of the Great Priories of Eng- 
land and Wales, Ireland, and Cauada. The 
Scottish fraters declined to join the new or- 
ganization. Canada withdrew in 1883, and 
still insists it represents a continuation of 
the ancient Templars. 

It was in the early (French) Scottish de- 
grees of 1739-50, which multiplied and be- 
came popular, that a second series of higher 
grades appeared, those in which Templar 
and Malta degrees were revived. The 
(French) Scottish Masters assumed preroga- 
tives not possessed by ordinary Master Ma- 
sons, such as to sit covered in Lodges, to con- 
trol elections of officers of symbolic Lodges, 
and even to usurp the functions of a Grand 
Lodge; and with the fabrication of a Ma- 
sonic Knight Templary, in which the noviti- 
ate was told that the Ancient Templars fled 
to Scotland in 1314 and there became Free- 
masons, was introduced another field of ex- 
ploration for those who had already delved 
dee]) into the arcana of symbolic and Scot- 
tish degrees. As Gould says: "Some of 
these Scots Lodges would appear to have 
very early manufactured new degrees con- 
necting these very distinguished Scots Ma- 
sons with the Knights Templars, and thus 
giving rise to the subsequent flood of Tem- 
plarism." The Kadosch (Templar) degree 
was invented as early as 1741 at Lyons, 
France. It typified the revenge of the Tem- 
plars, and a modification of it constitutes the 
thirtieth degree of the existing Ancient, Ac- 
cepted Eite. By 1745 Masonic Templary 
had spread over Europe, finally securing 



40 



FREEMASONRY 



recognition in both the York, independent, 
and the Ancient Grand Lodges of England. 
It is to this source, then, rather than to 
Larmenius, Aumont, Beaujeu, or survivors 
of ancient Templars who fled to England 
and Scotland that one must look for the 
Masonic Order of the Temple as we have 
it in the United Kingdom and the United 
States to-day. The Order appeared in Ire- 
land prior to 1779, but just how long before 
cannot be stated. It was only natural that 
it should be popular in the Catholic city of 
Dublin, when one considers the evolution 
of symbolic Freemasonry, originally Chris- 
tian, into a unitarian and cosmopolitan 
institution. The definition of Masonic 
Knighthood, by T. S. Parvin, in the Ameri- 
can appendix to Gould's " History of Free- 
masonry " (vol. iv., p. 557), is as follows: It 
" is a society eminently Christian, purged 
of all the leaven of heathen rites and tradi- 
tions, and to which none are admitted but 
members of a Masonic body, and such only 
as profess themselves to be Trinitarian 
Christians." Hugh McCurdy, Past Grand 
Master of the Grand Encampment of 
Knights Templars, United States of Amer- 
ica, in. an address at the Triennial Conclave 
at Boston, in 1895, said: 

Modern Templary is a Christian association of 
Freemasons adhering sacredly to the traditions of 
the military Orders of the Crusades, strictly follow- 
ing, so far as possible, their principles and customs, 
yielding obedience to their teachings, and accepting 
unconditionally their Trinitarian doctrine. The 
teachings are founded upon the Bible, and a Temp- 
lar must be a Christian ; for, it is said, the practice 
of Christian virtues is their avowed purpose of affilia- 
tion. " Non nobis, Domine," is their motto, and 
" In hoc signo vinces" is still their legend. 

In Kilwinning Lodge, Dublin, the degree 
was conferred on Boyal Arch Masons under 
the title "High Knights Templars," whence 
it went to Scotland, and, strangely, long be- 
fore 1779, the earliest record of it in Dublin, 
to America, through an Irish military Lodge. 
The earliest known record of conferring this 
Masonic Order anywhere is dated 1769, in 
St. Andrew's Chapter, Boston. During the 



next thirty years it is traced to Charleston, 
Philadelphia, New York city, and to other 
points in the United States, generally being 
conferred under Lodge, sometimes Chapter 
warrants. Prior to 1797, there were no 
American Knight Templar associations 
authorized to grant warrants for Encamp- 
ments, as Commanderies were called prior 
to 1856, so that nearly all earlier Templar 
bodies here were self -created. There were 
Knights Templars in New York city as 
early as 1785, and in Philadelphia in 1794. 
Temple and Malta rituals, as used in Amer- 
ican Commanderies, are purely American, 
and show something more than a trace of 
the Bose Croix (eighteenth), the Knight of 
the Brazen Serpent (twenty-fifth), Com- 
mander of the Temple (twenty-sixth), and 
the Knight Kadosch (thirtieth) degrees of 
the Ancient, Accepted Scottish Bite, to 
which the American Temple and Malta 
rituals virtually owe their origin. 

American records of the Bed Cross de- 
gree, now the eleventh, and the Knight of 
Malta, the thirteenth and last of the Amer- 
ican Bite, are few and far between, prior to 
the present century, but both are known to 
have existed at Charleston as early as 1783. 
The Bed Cross is a fabrication by chiefs of 
the Scottish Bite of an earlier period from 
what are now the fifteenth and sixteenth 
grades of that rite. It was formerly prac- 
tised under the title "Babylonish Pass," has 
a Jewish and Persian legend, and supple- 
ments the Boyal Arch. It has no place in 
any Teniplar system and should not have 
been incorporated in one. 

The Malta degree is out of place in any 
secret organization. The Ancient Knights 
of Malta did not constitute a secret society 
and were bitter rivals of Knights Templars. 
In 1856 the Grand Encampment of Knights 
Templars of the United States declared that 
the incorporation of the Order of Malta with 
that of Knights Templars, and the making 
the one person the possessor of both degrees, 
was a violation of historic accuracy, and the 
Malta degree was discarded; but in 1862 it 



FREEMASONRY 



41 



was restored, to be communicated after the 
candidate had been created a Knight Tem- 
plar. 

The earliest notice of a Malta degree or 
ceremony in Scotland is that on two old 
brass plates, said to have been in possession 
of Stirling Ancient Lodge, but now lost. 
One related to the first two degrees of Free- 
masonry ; the other displayed Master's em- 
blems on one side, and on the reverse, at the 
top, the Eed Cross or ark ; at the bottom 
a series of concentric rings which suggested 
a rainbow, except for a keystone, indicating 
an arch ; the sepulchre, Knight of Malta, 
and Knight Templar. The plates could 
scarcely have dated back farther than the 
middle of the eighteenth century, judging 
from reference to the Eed Cross. Scotch 
Masonic Lodges became acquainted with 
Templar and Malta ceremonies through 
Irish brethren who belonged to regiments 
serving in Scotland about the close of the 
last century. These degrees were then 
known as " Black Masonry," and were pro- 
pagated through charters issued by the 
High Knights Templars of Kilwinning 
Lodge, in Dublin. From Dublin Kilwin- 
ning arose the early encampments of Ire- 
land, and subsequently the early Grand 
Encampment, which chartered Lodges in 
Scotland and England. The refusal of 
Baldwyn Encampment, England, to confer 
the Temple and Malta Orders on any but 
Royal Arch Masons, which rule obtains in 
like Masonic bodies to this day, has been 
declared to have given rise to the formation 
of Encampments in Ireland separate from 
the influence of the Masonic Fraternity. 
These Encampments became identified with 
the Orange bodies early in this century, 
and subsequently extended their influence 
to America, through an "Imperial Parent, 
Grand Black Encampment'' of Scotland, a 
"Grand Lodge," organized about 1844, 
claiming supreme jurisdiction over a reli- 
gious and military Order of Malta. (See 
Non-Masonic Orders of Malta. ) 

That there was abundant material to en- 



able this independent Scotch-Orange body 
to produce an Order of Malta is evident 
from the fact that in 1726 the "History of 
the Knights of Malta," by De Vertot, was 
published in Paris ; and that from 1495 to 
1735 there were no less than thirty publica- 
tions treating of the statutes, ordinances, 
and ceremonies of the Hospitaller Order of 
St. John of Malta. The dramas of the day 
also characterized the ceremonies of the 
Order, and in Beaumont and Fletcher's 
" Knight of Malta" (1646), the ceremonies 
at initiation and degradation are illustrated 
and exemplified. 

Masonic Knight Templary, then, is con- 
nected with the ancient Templars only in 
name, and through its use of Templar 
emblems and the names of ancient Grand 
Masters of the Templars, and of sites 
rendered historical by them as titles for 
Commanderies. The American Templar 
ceremonial is exclusively Masonic in method 
and arrangement, representing the second, 
or Christian, in contrast with the first, or 
Jewish, dispensation. It does not incorpo- 
rate the ritual of the ancient or of English 
Templars. It is doubtful whether there 
was much of any ceremonial in American 
Templar bodies until in the second decade 
of the present century. Early American 
Encampments are known to have had little 
else than distinctive uniforms, emblems, 
and an obligation. But in 1814 the Sover- 
eign Grand Consistory of the ancient Scot- 
tish Rite of Herodem, established at New 
York city in 1807 by Joseph Cerneau, a 
spurious Scottish Rite body, which had no 
more to do with the independent Templar 
Encampments of that day than with the 
New York Chamber of Commerce, pre- 
sumed to, and actually did, constitute a 
Grand Encampment of Knights Templars 
and Appendent Orders for the State of New 
York. It was the early Cerneau Masons 
who, without authority, constituted a Grand 
Encampment of Knights Templars, a body of 
which they officially knew nothing, and who 
filched from four Scottish Rite degrees that 



42 



FREEMASONRY 



which, with modifications, gives an impres- 
sive and sacred character to the American 
Temple and Malta ceremonials. A Grand 
Encampment of Pennsylvania was formed 
in 1794, twenty years before that in New 
York, and a second one in 1797, in which 
State the Grand Chapter, as well as Grand 
Commandery, recognizes a higher authority 
in the Grand Lodge. The United States 
Grand Encampment, that of Massachusetts 
and Ehode Island, was formed in 1805. In 
1816, two years after the formation of the 
Grand Encampment of the State of New 
York, which was not even recognized by 
Encampments in that State for five or six 
years, a convention of eight Encampments 
(five from New England, and three from 
New York State) was held at Hartford, 
Conn., and the Grand Encampment of 
Knights Templars, U. S. A., was organized. 
There were also in existence at that time 
six other Encampments, which did not take 
part in the organization of what finally be- 
came the Supreme American Templar body, 
one each at Philadelphia, Pittsburg, New 
York, Wilmington, Del., Baltimore, and 
Charleston. Prior to 1865 the growth of 
the Order in America was slow, but since 
the Civil War the organization has been 
very popular, numbering forty-three Grand 
Commanderiesandll5,770 members in 1898, 
out of about 120,000 in the United States, 
United Kingdom, and in Canada. Eighty 
years ago there were probably not more 
than 500 Knights Templars in the fourteen 
Encampments in existence in the United 
States, when the Grand Encampment of 
the United States of America was formed. 

An accompanying table of total mem- 
bership of the American Rite, members 
of Lodges, Eoyal Arch Chapters, Councils 
of Royal and Select Masters, and Command- 
eries of Knights Templars, is presented 
so as to show comparative statistics for 
countries, provinces, etc. The American 
Rite exists in its entirety only in the 
United States. There are Royal Arch 
Chapters on the American system in the 



Dominion of Canada, as well as Encamp- 
ments of Knights Templars, but no Coun- 
cils of Royal and Select Masters, unless 
the bodies in New Brunswick are active. 
There are a few Councils of Royal and 
Select Masters in the United Kingdom, 
where the Order of the Temple is also 
found, with a total membership of about 
4,000, as compared with nearly 113,000 in 
the United States. Out of 768,511 Master 
Masons in the United States in 1897, 
193,629, or 25 per cent., were Royal Arch 
Masons; and of the latter, 43,478, 5.6 per 
cent, of the total number of Master 
Masons and 22.5 per cent, of the Royal 
Arch Masons, were Royal and Select Mas- 
ters. The latter degrees are not generally 
made essential to gain admission to the 
Templar Order, which explains their com- 
paratively small membership. Six Amer- 
ican Royal Arch Masons out of ten, however, 
are Knights Templars, and one Master 
Mason out of seven. The strongest Grand 
Lodges numerically are those of New York, 
including about one-eighth of all the Mas- 
ter Masons in the country ; Illinois, one- 
fifteenth.; and Pennsylvania, one-twentieth 
— in all, 23 per cent, of the members of the 
Fraternity in the United States and Terri- 
tories. New York also reports the largest 
number of Royal Arch Masons, about one- 
tenth of the grand total ; Pennsylvania being 
second, with one-twelfth ; and Illinois third, 
with nearly as large a proportion. The 
Cryptic Rite, including the degrees of Royal 
and Select Masters, is most popular in 
Massachusetts, where one-eighth of all who 
have those degrees are to be found. Ohio 
ranks next, with one-tenth; Michigan third, 
with nearly as large a total, and New York 
fourth in order. The Grand Commandery 
of Massachusetts and Rhode Island reports 
more than one-tenth of the total number of 
Knights Templars in the United States, 
Pennsylvania about one-tenth, and New 
York a slightly smaller proportion, after 
which rank Illinois and Ohio, with about 
one-twelfth and one-fifteenth, respectively. 



FREEMASONRY 



43 



TOTAL ACTIVE MEMBERSHIP OF THE AMERICAN 

RITE OF FREE AND ACCEPTED 

MASONS. 



Total 

Active Membership, 

1897. 


Is 

o o 


If 




S - 

CM 




22,085 

8,963 

9,694 

37,460 

4,890 

16,813 

90,874 

16,094 

49.589 

2.077 

40,839 

28,430 

52,509 

30,606 

38,668 

19,595 

18.367 

7,257 

16,408 

15,428 

26,890 

11.836 

4.243 

2.535 

8,626 

1,028 

7,310 

12,652 

."..sc,-; 

10,839 

5,723 

17.317 

4. 3! (3 

11,113 

9,110 

5,363 

30.567 

17,682 

18,264 

5,118 

IS. 208 

4.874 

048 

1,991 

1,152 

569 

2,908 

S94 

763 

1,085 


5,897 
3.335 
2.650 

13,944 
2,347 
5,433 

19,400 
3.234 

15,957 
595 


2,189 
1.416 
1,056 
5.294 
1,215 
3,212 
3.932 
413 
1,815 


3.153 




2,060 




1,499 








J- 11,789 




2,363 




11,037 
1,779 






11.218 




t 


Ohio 


13.373 4.222 


8.071 
3,526 




6.479 

16,414 

6,681 

12,677 

5,057 

2,826 

2,456 

1.077 

4.615 

7,046 

3,042 

1 .529 

765 

6G3 

1,662 
8,403 
1,115 

818 
591 
3.266 
675 
1.007 
1.388 
1,005 
5,681 

1.897 

5.178 

1,238 

228 

1.141 

"l79 

581 


2,525 

2,828 
704 

4,006 
797 
752 

734 

"371 

'"555 

514 
72 

434 

207 

321 

' ' 90i 
189 

2is 

97 




9,518 




4,237 




5,523 




3,234 




2,020 




1,667 




2,902 




2.448 




4,343 




1J769 




756 


North Dakota 


426 

34S 




319 




1.132 




1,481 




951 


North Carolina 


347 
f 




719 


Florida 

Alabama 


1 

382 
441 








2,115 


Tennessee 


1.091 
122 


District of Columbia.... 


1,534 

3,033 




415 




+ 


Washington 


626 


Idaho 


+ 


Arizona 


1 22 




123 




+ 


Utah 






t 


Oklahoma 






+ 


t Attached to (ieneral 


1,133 


963 


1,562 








Totals, United States. 
Ontario 


768,511 

03.351 

3.519 

1.774 

3.351 

515 


193,629 
4,977 

4s; 

401 
673 


43,478 

Dorm't 

None 

Noetat. 

None 


112,891 
1 


Quebec 












Prince Edward Island. . . 
Newfoundland 


y 1,548 


Manitoba 

N. W. Territory 


2.413 






British ( olumbi i 


1,272 




J 


Totals, Canada 

England and Wales 

Ireland 


36.195 

See 
Another 
Exhibit* 


6,538 
None 


797 
None 


1,548 

2.366 
968 


Scotland 


525 


Victoria, Australia 


76 








Grand Total 


1,324,000 


200,167 


44,275 


118,374 



t Attached to Grand Encampment. 



Ancient, Accepted Scottish Rite, 33°. — 
Mackey, in his " Encyclopaedia of Freema- 
sonry " (p. 697), says of the Eite : " Although 
one of the youngest of the Masonic rites, 
having been established not earlier than the 
year 1801, it is at this day the most popular 
and most extensively diffused. Supreme 
Councils or governing bodies of the Eite are 
to be found in almost every civilized coun- 
try of the world, and in many of them it is 
the only Masonic obedience." It was con- 
structed at Charleston, S. C, in 1801, out of 
the twenty-five degrees of the Eite of Per- 
fection, Chapter of Clermont, Paris, 1754, 
which were absorbed by the Emperors, of 
the East and West, 1758, which body 
granted a patent in 1761 to Stephen Morin 
to introduce the Eite of Perfection, twenty- 
five degrees, into the West Indies and Amer- 
ica. Eeference to the rise and progress of 
the fabrication of so-called higher Masonic 
degrees in France and elsewhere on the 
European Continent may be found in the 
outline of Masonic rites and the discussion 
of the origin of the Royal Arch and Knight 
Templar degrees. McClenachan declares * 
that Morin's patent was probably the first 
Masonic document of the kind ever issued. 
The best informed Masonic students admit 
that such a document w r as issued. Accord- 
ing to the existing copy, it empowered Morin 
to confer the twenty-five degrees and ap- 
point Inspectors of the Rite of Perfection. 
Morin was an Inspector and a Sovereign 
Prince Mason (then the twenty-fifth, now 
the thirty-second degree). The title In- 
spector referred to an office and not a degree. 
The Morin patent was signed by representa- 
tives of the Council of Emperors of the 
East and West and by officials of the 
National Grand Lodge of France who were 
members of the Council of Emperors. In 
1772 the Council of Emperors united with 
a faction of the Grand Lodge of France, 
and died a few months later. The Grand 
Lodge of France declared, in 1779, that it 

* American Appendix to Gould's History of Free- 
masonry, vol. iv., p. 626. 



44 



FREEMASONRY 



knew nothing of "high degrees/' and in 
1786 formed the French Eite hy adding 
modifications of four borrowed Scottish Rite 
degrees to the three symbolic degrees, which 
system it practises to this day. The impor- 
tance of this, which is admitted by all 
except partisan chroniclers who have axes 
to grind, or are in need of dupes, lies in the 
fact that existing spurious Scottish Eite 
bodies in America claim authority for using 
the Eite of Perfection from the Grand Ori- 
ent of France. Morin landed in San Do- 
mingo in 1762 or 1763, and in the same year 
established a Council of Princes of the Eoyal 
Secret, 25°, and created Henry Andrew 
Francken Deputy, Inspector for North 
America, 25°, who, in 1767, organized a 
Lodge of Perfection at Albany, N. Y., thus 
introducing the Eite of Perfection on the 
American Continent. This Lodge was dor- 
mant from 1774 until 1821, when it was 
revived, and is still in existence, the oldest 
high-grade Masonic organization in the 
world. The next body to confer Sublime or 
Scottish degrees in this country was a Lodge 
of Perfection at Philadelphia in 1781. The 
work of creating Inspectors, 25°, of the Eite 
of Perfection, progressed rapidly, and by 
the end of the century, in addition to nu- 
merous representative American chiefs of 
the Eite, introduced here by Morin through 
Francken, there were some who were merely 
peddlers of degrees, who traveled about 
the country making twenty-fifth degree 
Freemasons "at sight," for a price. Eef- 
erence to an accompanying chart shows 
that the filiation of powers over the Eite 
of twenty-five degrees coming from Morin, 
took two. courses in the Western world. 
On the one hand it descended through 
Francken to Hayes (1767-1770), with power 
covering North America, and thence to 
Spitzeras Deputy Inspector (1781), to Cohen 
(1781), Jacobs (1790), Long and Mitchell (in 
1795), and to De Grasse Tilly in 1796. On 
the other, Prevost, who was created Deputy 
Inspector by Francken (1774), conferred the 
office on Du Plessis (1790), who made Hac- 



quet an Inspector in 1798. From the latter, 
Du Potet received the Eite in 1799, and Du 
Potet made Joseph Cerneau Deputy Inspec- 
tor, 25°, at Baracoa (1806), "for the north- 
ern part of the Island of Cuba." In 1783 
a third Grand Lodge of Perfection was estab- 
lished at Charleston by Isaac Da Costa, who 
had been made Deputy Inspector by Hayes, 
and in 1792 a fourth like body was formed 
at Baltimore by Henry Williams. In 1788 
a Council of Princes of Jerusalem (fifteenth 
and sixteenth degrees) was instituted at 
Charleston by Joseph Myers, Deputy In- 
spector with authority from Hayes, and 
in 1799 the first Grand Council of Princes 
of the Eoyal Secret, 25°, was formed at 
Charleston by Hyman Long and others, 
acting under authority of the chiefs of the 
Eite at Kingston, Jamaica, which action 
was approved by the latter in the same 
year. In 1797 Huet La Chelle, Du Potet, 
and others opened " La Triple Union " 
Sovereign Chapter Eose Croix of H. E. 
D. M., of Kilwinning, Scotland, at New 
York city. This was not the Eose Croix 
(eighteenth degree) of the Eite of Perfec- 
tion, which is now the eighteenth degree of 
the Ancient, Accepted Scottish Eite, but 
the second degree of the Eoyal Order of 
Scotland. La Chelle came to New York 
from San Domingo and is not known to 
have had any authority to establish a Kil- 
winning Eose Croix Chapter, except by 
virtue of some old ritual which may have 
fallen into his hands. 

At Charleston, S. C, May 31, 1801, 
John Mitchell and Frederick Dalcho, as 
Sovereign Grand Inspectors General, 
opened a Supreme Council of the thirty- 
third degree for the United States of 
America. The Eite of Perfection, twenty- 
five degrees, was used as a basis for the 
new, the Ancient, Accepted Scottish Eite, 
eight degrees being added. The twenty- 
third degree in the old Eite, Knight of the 
Sun, became the twenty-eighth in the new 
one ; the twenty-fourth, Knight Kadosch, 
became the thirtieth ; and the twenty-fifth, 



FREEMASONRY 



45 



Prince of the Eoyal Secret, became the 
thirty-second. The added degrees (except 
the thirty-third) were selected in part 
from existing material, and now rank as 
the twenty- third, twenty-fourth, twenty- 
fifth, twenty-sixth, twenty-seyenth, twenty- 
ninth, and thirty-first. Members of the 
thirty-third and last degree constitute the 
chiefs of the Eite. The new Supreme 
Council recognized Morin's patent and cre- 
ated Morin a Sovereign Grand Inspector, 
33°. It also recognized the Grand Consti- 
tutions of 1762, supposed to have been for- 
warded to Morin after he left France, a copy 
of which Morin gave Francken, and was left 
by the latter in Albany in 1767 ; and the 
Secret Constitutions of May 1, 1786, by 
which Frederick the Great was made the 
founder of the Ancient, Accepted Eite, 33°, 
supreme power descending from the Em- 
peror of Prussia to nine brethren of each 
nation to act as Grand Commanders or Sov- 
ereigns of Masonry. By these constitu- 
tions it was provided that there should be 
one Supreme Council, 33°, for each state or 
kingdom in Europe, one for the West Indies, 
one also for the French West Indies, and 
two for (the United States of) Xorth 
America. In this one finds the origin 
of the power in the rite possessed by active 
thirty-third degree Freemasons. The Secret 
Constitutions have frequently been at- 
tributed to the Charleston creators of the 
rite, and good reasons have been adduced 
to show that Frederick of Prussia never 
heard of them, although Pike makes a strong 
argument in favor of their royal origin in 
Prussia. Whatever the facts, the legend 
continues as virile and yet as innocuous as 
that which attributes so much to our ancient 
Grand Master, Solomon, King of Israel, in 
symbolic and Eoyal Arch degrees. By the 
end of 1801 the full number of Sovereign 
Grand Inspectors General was completed, 
but the new rite was not formally an- 
nounced to the world until 1803. In 1801 
a Council of Princes of Jerusalem, subordi- 
nate to the new Supreme Council at Charles- 



ton, established a Lodge of Perfection. In 
February, 1802, Count A. F. A. De Grasse 
Tilly was granted a patent by the Supreme 
Council A. A. S. E., 33° (mother Council 
of the world), to constitute, establish, direct, 
and inspect Masonic bodies in two hemi- 
spheres. Under this he organized a Su- 
preme Council A. A. S. E., 33°, in San 
Domingo in 1802 (which did not live beyond 
1803), and another, the third, at Paris, in 
1804. The De Grasse Tilly French Supreme 
Council continues to this day the governing 
body of the A. A. S. E., 33°, in France. 
It carried back to France the new rite of 
thirty-three degrees, founded on the old 
Scottish (French) Eite of Perfection, twenty- 
five degrees, as something entirely new and 
distinct, a Masonic Eite, as such, of whicli 
France had no previous knowledge. De 
Grasse Tilly, on his arrival in Paris, found 
Germain Hacquet, 25° (see chart of powers 
of filiation), who had established the Scot- 
tish Eite of Herod em, an offshoot of the 
unauthorized Kilwinning Eose Croix of 
Herodem, founded in New York by La 
Chelle and others in 1797, a degree of the 
Eoyal Order of Scotland, having no connec- 
tion with the Eite of Perfection, and, of 
course, none with the A. A. S. E. of 1801. 
To the founding of the new French Supreme 
Council, Hacquet and his Eose Croix pro- 
ject offered an obstacle and were promptly 
absorbed. The old Eite of Perfection 
had been forgotten in France, and came 
back with eight more degrees — an absolute 
stranger. The right of Mitchell, Dalcho, 
and others to organize a new rite of thirty- 
three degrees may hardly be called in ques- 
tion. The old Eite of Perfection had no 
governing, body, had been forgotten in 
Europe, and a new rite had been created and 
carried to France, where the Grand Orient, 
governing a French system of seven degrees, 
was the only Grand Body in existence. The 
Grand Orient, alarmed at the prestige of 
and the prospects for success of the new rite 
of thirty-three degrees, a system containing 
more degrees than had ever been constructed 



46 



FREEMASONRY 



before, made overtures for harmony, particu- 
larly as it had utilized in its own system, 
without warrant, a modification of the old 
Kite of Perfection Eose Croix degree, the 
eighteenth in both that and the A. A. S. E. 
It certainly could have no claim to all of 
the thirty-three degrees, seven of which it 
knew nothing about officially, and one, 
nothing about whatever. The result was 
a concordat, December 5, 1804, by which 
the Grand Orient was to have the right to 
confer the first eighteen degrees ; but in 
1805 the Grand Orient broke the agreement 
and claimed the right to control thirty-three 
degrees. This was resisted, and a long 
quarrel followed. In 1814, the Supreme 
Council being weakened by the loss of many 
influential members (Bonapartists), the 
Grand Orient, by a coup d'etat, usurped 
control of the thirty-three degrees, where- 
upon the Supreme Council retaliated by 
resuming control of all the degrees from 
the fourth to the eighteenth, inclusive. 

Political conditions in France resulted in 
the Supreme Council becoming dormant 
between 1814 and 1821, during which in- 
terval and subsequent thereto the Grand 
Orient claimed to control thirty-three de- 
grees, until 1862, when peace was restored 
and the Grand Orient retired to its proper 
sphere. The action of the Grand Orient 
between 1814 and 1862 may be likened to 
an attempt by the Grand Lodge of New 
York State to confer the degrees controlled 
by the Grand Chapter or by the Grand 
Commandery. 

In 1806 Antoine Bideaud, 33°, created 
a Sovereign Grand Inspector General in 
the Supreme Council instituted by Count 
De Grasse Tilly at San Domingo, in 1803 
(but without authority to act on the 
continent of North America), organized a 
Sovereign Grand Consistory, S. P. E. S. 
32°, at New York city, of which notice 
was sent to the mother Supreme Coun- 
cil at Charleston. Bideaud had no right 
to organize a Masonic body in New York, 
but he was a thirty-third degree Mason 



under the authority of a Supreme Council 
created by the Charleston mother Supreme 
Council, and his New York Consistory was 
afterwards made regular by the Charleston 
body. In 1807 Joseph Cerneau, a French 
immigrant, who had received the twenty- 
five degrees of the Eite of Perfection from 
Mathieu du Potet at Baracoa, Cuba, in 
1806, organized a " Grand Consistory of 
Sublime Princes of the Eoyal Secret M of the 
"Scottish Eite of Herodern." Cerneau 
utilized the Eose Croix Chapter "La Triple 
Union " of 1797, which was not a Scottish 
Eite body, in building up his Consistory. 
Eeference to an accompanying chart, and to 
Cerneau's patent, shows that he had only 
the twenty-five degrees of the Eite of Per- 
fection when he did this. For that matter, 
he did not, at that time, claim to have the 
thirty-three degrees of the Ancient, Accepted 
Eite. In 1808 the Bideaud body issued to 
J. G. Tardy a patent as Illustrious Com- 
mander, etc., under the statutes, etc., of the 
Supreme Tribunal of Sovereign Grand In- 
spectors General, which, while Bideaud was 
not authorized to do so, is important as show- 
ing that the sublime degrees, as created by 
the A. A. S. E. Supreme Council at Charles- 
ton, were being conferred in New York 
city at that date. In 1812 Joseph Cerneau 
organized at New York a Supreme Council 
of Sovereign Grand Inspectors General, 
33°, for the United States of America, its 
Territories and Dependencies, with himself 
as Most Puissant Sovereign Grand Com- 
mander, and from this assumption . on his 
part grew the dissension in Scottish Eite 
Masonry in the United States which marked 
many succeeding years. Even a tyro at 
controversy might well ask where did the 
man of the twenty-five degrees of the Eite of 
Perfection get his title, " Sovereign Grand 
Inspector General," and his "thirty-third 
degree" ? As a matter of fact, he assumed 
them with the same effrontery that Cagli- 
ostro, after receiving the three symbolic 
degrees, invented his "ancient" Egyptian 
Eite, with the sole difference that the Italian 



FREEMASONRY 



47 



impostor had the decency to create some- 
thing instead of pretending to possess de- 
grees which did not belong to him and which 
he did not have. Cerneau dnpes, and others, 
hare declared that Cerneau received his 
patent from one Martin, "a successor of 
Morin," who, they allege, had his patent 
recalled by the Emperors of the East and 
West in 1766. Cerneau's patent itself is 
sufficient refutation, but just what advan- 
tage would have been gained by Cerneau if 
it had been so, is not clear. Martin is un- 
known to the Masonic world other than to 
purveyors of Cerneau gold bricks. Cerneau 
received his patent as Inspector, 25°, from 
Du Potet, and Du Potet his from Du Pies- 
sis. Du Plessis was made a thirty-third 
degree Freemason by Du Grasse Tilly, in 
1802, three years after he had created Du 
Potet an Inspector, and fully four years be- 
fore Du Potet gave Cerneau his patent. Why 
did Du Plessis feel it necessary to get an- 
other patent in order to secure the thirty- 
third degree of the A. A. S. R. ? Yet Du 
Plessis was the Masonic grandfather of 
Cerneau. 

The chiefs of the Bideaud (Xew York) 
body, among others, were J. G. Tardy, J. J. 
J. Gourgas, and J. B. Desdoity, to whom 
Bideaud gave the thirty-second degree ; yet 
they soon found they were not regular, be- 
cause of Bideaud's lack of authority in New 
York, and were healed at Philadelphia, in 
1807 and 1808, by Du Plessis, who received 
the thirty-third degree in 1802, from De 
Grasse Tilly. It was in 1813 that Emanuel 
De la Motta, a Sovereign Grand Inspector 
General of the mother Supreme Council, 
A. A. S. R., 33°, at Charleston, S. C, arrived 
in New York with full power from the 
mother Supreme Council, when, with the 
aid of those who had been connected with 
the Bideaud body, he organized the Supreme 
Council, A. A. S. R., 33° (the second in the 
United States), for the Northern Jurisdic- 
tion, with Daniel D. Tompkins, afterward 
Vice-President of the United States, in the 
Grand East. 



The Cerneau body, a Sovereign Consistory, 
at first produced 'its Supreme Council attach- 
ment in 1812. It was more active than the 
De la Motta body. It naturally ignored the 
Charleston Supreme body, and corresponded 
with the Grand Orient of France at a period 
when that body was most anxious to recog- 
nize a claimant of any Masonic rite, as it was 
engaged in an effort to disrupt the Supreme 
Council of France and so monopolize the 
latter's system of thirty-three degrees. The 
character of the Cerneau body of 1814 is 
illustrated by its presuming to organize the 
Grand Encampment of Knights Templars 
of New York. Notwithstanding neither 
the Supreme Council, Northern Jurisdic- 
tion, or the Cerneau body made much effort 
to popularize the rite prior to 1860, the latter 
skilfully advertised itself, going so far as to 
deceive De Witt Clinton into accej)ting of- 
fice, a position which he held several years 
without ever filling it or ever being present 
at a meeting. Mackey explains that Clinton 
became '-unwittingly complicated" with 
the spurious (Cerneau) ''Consistory/' and 
states how, but ''took no active part "in it, 
and soon "withdrew from all connection 
with it." A chronological synopsis of the 
more important events in the careers of 
Supreme Councils prior to 1863 is given as 
follows : 



A. A. S. R.— U. S. A. 
Southern Jurisdiction. 

1801. 

Charleston. S. C. Supreme 
Council of the United States, 
formed bv Count A. F. A. 
De Grasse Tilly. John Mitchell, 
J. B. Delahocrue, and Fred- 
erick Dalcho : Mitchell, Grand 
Commander. 

1802. 

Tableau that year shows 
nine Sovereign Grand Inspect- 
ors General. 



Seven Sovereign Grand In- 
spectors General. 



IRREGULAR SCOTTISH 
RITE BODIES. 



1811. 

Xew Orleans. Grand Con- 
sistory P. R. S. 32°, organized 
by regular Supreme Council at 
Kingston, preceding Cerneau 
invasion of the South. 



48 



FREEMASONRY 



A. A. S. R.— U. S. A. 
Southern Jurisdiction. 

1813. 
Commissioned Emanuel De 
la Motta to organize a Su- 
preme Council at New York 
city for Northern Jurisdiction, 
which was done. 

1822. 
Corresponded with Northern 
Supreme Council through 
Rouse and Holbrook, Commit- 
tee on Correspondence. 

1823-24. 
Frederick Dalcho, Grand 
Commander. 

1825. 
G. F. Yates created a Sover- 
eign Grand Inspector General. 

1827. 

Acknowledged receipt of 
documents from Northern Su- 
preme Council and partitioned 
United States between itself 
and Northern Supreme Coun- 
cil. 

1828-32. 

Corresponded with Grand 
Orient of France until 1832. 
(Dormant 1832 to 1844.) 

1844. 
Alexander McDonald, Grand 
Commander. 

1855. 
John Henry Honour, Grand 
Commander. 



1859. 
Albert Pike, Grand Com- 
mander. 



James C. Batchelor, Grand 
Commander. 



1893. 
Philip C. Tucker, 



Commander. 



1S97 



IRREGULAR SCOTTISH 
RITE BODIES. 

1813-55. 
New Orleans. A Cerneau 
Scottish Rite body appeared in 
1813 (two years after the Kings- 
ton Rose Croix Chapter). After 
a fight of forty years (during 
which, in 1839, it became in- 
dependent), in which it antag- 
onized the Grand Lodge of 
Louisiana by assuming to war- 
rant Lodges and confer the 
three symbolic degrees, it 
united with the regular Con- 
sistory at New Orleans, formed 
by the Supreme Council, South- 
ern Jurisdiction, at Charleston. 



1856. 
New Orleans. Foulhouze'i 
spurious Consistory formed 
short-lived. 



Grand 



Thomas H. Casw r ell, Grand 
Commander. 



A. A. S. R— U. S. A. 
Northern Jurisdiction. 

1806. 
New York city. Grand Con- 
sistory, P. R. S. (by A. Bi- 
deaud of San Domingo Su- 
preme Council, established by 
De Grasse Tilly of the Charles- 
ton Supreme Council), after- 
wards regularized by Southern 
Supreme Council. 



SCOTTISH RITE OF HERO- 
DEM— U. S. A. 

Cerneau. 



1807. 
New York city. Joseph Cer- 
neau opened a Sovereign Grand 
Consistory, P. R. S., 25°, which 
claimed to revive a preexist- 
ing Rose Croix Chapter, Royal 
Order Scotland. 



New York city. Council, 
Princes of Jerusalem, estab- 
lished by Abraham Jacobs. 

New York city. Aurora Grata 
Grand Lodge o*f Perfection. 



A. A. S. R.-U. S. A. 
Noi % thern Jurisdiction. 

1811. 
New Orleans. Chapter of 
Rose Croix, established by au- 
thority from the Supreme 
Council at Kingston. 



1813. 

New York city. Bideaud 
Consistory organized into the 
Northern Jurisdiction Su- 
preme Council Sovereign Grand 
Inspectors General, 33°, by au- 
thority of Charleston Supreme 
Council. 

1822. 

Letter received from Com- 
mittee on Correspondence of 
Southern Supreme Council by 
D. D. Tompkins of Northern 
Supreme Council. 

1825. 

J. J. J. Gourgas, acting Most 
Puissant Sovereign GrandCom- 
mander. 

1826. 

Northern Supreme Council 
received oaths of fealty from 
Camagne, Lawrence, and 
others. 

1827. 

Southern Supreme Council 
acknowledged receipt of docu- 
ments from Northern Supreme 
Council. 

1827. 

Southern Supreme Council 
recognized States north of Ma- 
son and Dixon line and east of 
the Mississippi River as terri- 
tory of the Northern Supreme 
Council. 

1828. 

Northern Supreme Council 
received oath of fealty from 
G. F. Yates of Southern Su- 
preme Council. 

Alliance between the Grand 
Orient of France and the 
Northern and Southern Su- 
preme Councils. 

1830. 
Cerneau's name struck from 
the Tableau of the Grand Ori- 
ent of France. 



SCOTTISH RITE OF HERO- 
DEM— U. S. A. 



1812. 
Supreme Council, Sovereign 
Grand Inspectors General, 33°, 
for United States of America, 
their Territories and Depend- 
encies, formed two years be- 
fore hearing from the Grand 
Orient of France, from which 
Cerneau, after 1814, claimed to 
have received the thirty-third 
degree. 



1827. 
Cerneau body became dor- 
mant and was allowed to die. 



1844. 
Northern Supreme Council 
revived ; J. J. J. Gourga6, Most 
Puissant Sovereign Grand 
Commander. (Met annually 
thereafter.) 



?y A 

France as United Supreme 
Council, etc., for the Western 
Hemisphere, and confederated 
with Supreme Council of Bra- 
zil. Elias Hicks, Most Puissant 
Sovereign Grand Commander. 

1836. 
Alleged confederation with 
Supreme Council of France. 



FREEMASONRY 



49 



A. A. S. R.— U. S. A. 

Northern Jurisdiction. 

1845. 
Northern Supreme Council 
isBued charter for a Supreme 
Council for England. 



1850. 
Gourgas resigned and ap- 
pointed Giles Fonda Yates 
Most Puissant Sovereign Grand 
Commander. 



1851. 
G. F. Yates resigned and ap- 
pointed E. A. Raymond Most 
Puissant Sovereign Grand 
Commander. The Grand East 
was removed from New York 
city to Boston. 



1857. 
Northern Supreme Council 
recognized the Supreme Coun- 
cil of Venezuela. 



SCOTTISH RITE OF HERO- 
DEM— U. S. A. 



United Supreme Council dis- 
solved ; went out of existence, 
and divided funds among four 
out of the five remaining mem- 
bers. (Genuine Cerneau bodies 
terminate here.) 

1850. 
H. C. Atwood (an expelled 
Master Mason, who claimed to 
have received thirty-third de- 
gree patent from a traveling 
Scottish Rite lecturer *) organ- 
ized a Supreme Council, etc., 
for the United States of Amer- 
ica, Territories, and Dependen- 
cies, without cooperation of 
any member of the Hicks 
body. 

1851. 
Atwood succeeded by J. L. 
Cross of Southern Supreme 
Council, who soon found him- 
self misplaced and withdrew. 

1852. 
Atwood succeeded Cross and 
changed the name to Supreme 
Council, etc., for the Sovereign, 
Free, and Independent State 
of New York. 

1854. 
Name again changed to Su- 
preme Council, etc., for the 
United States of America, Ter- 
ritories, and Dependencies. 



1858. 
Name changed for the fifth 
time, to Supreme Council, etc., 
for Western Hemisphere. 



Boston. Northern Supreme 
Council (owing to dissensions) 
declared closed sine die by 
Raymond, August 22d. 

Boston. Raymond (with 
Robinson) reorganizes a North- 
ern Supreme Council. 

1861. 
Raymond deposed as Sover- 
eign Grand Commander by the 
Provisional Supreme Council. 

1862. 
Van Rensselaer, Lieutenant 
Grand Commander, elected 
Sovereign Grand Commander, 
vice Raymond deposed. 



E- B. Hays, by appointment 
of Atwood, succeeds latter at 
his, death. 



* William Sewall Gardner, 33°, Massachusetts, in appendix 
to the Proceedings of the Northern Jurisdiction, on spurious 
Supreme Councils in the Northern Jurisdiction, says that H. 
C. Atwood (as well as R. B. Folger) went to Trenton, prior to 
1840, among a party, all of whom paid ten dollars and got the 
thirty-third degree from Abraham Jacobs (expelled), who had 
spent nearly forty years peddling Scottish Rite degrees il- 
legally. They went to Trenton, because Jacobs had agreed 
with the Cerneau people for a price not to peddle his degrees 
within sixty miles of New York. Atwood is said to have " in- 
herited " Jacobs' trunk of rituals. Here, then, is the probable 
origin of the Cerneau Rite of 1860-1862, for Atwood started it 
as its commander, without an officer of any preceding Cerneau 
body to legitimatize him. 



" Scottish Cerneau Rite, 
Rites " among " Scottish." 
Negroes. 



New York. 
(Without au- 
thority.) 
1806. 



A. A. S. R. A. A. S. R. 

Northern Southern 

Masonic Masonic 

Jurisdiction. Jurisdiction. 

Charleston, 
— S. C. 



1801 









•n 




a 




a 




o 




h 




~ 




H 




zr. 




< 




< 


/ 


2 














o 




t-1 


— 








O 


-/. 


O 














00 






CZ2 


- 


£ 






— 


■y 


w 


o 

1 




a 




$ 




SB 


09 


3 


£ 


_2 






2 










a 




o 


o 


£ 






v. 


5 


■i. 

— 


< 








a 


'~ 


o 




a 


h 


o 






H 


fr 






a o . 
- <u 



-3 






New York. 

(Authorized.) 

1813. 



I 



Schism. 
1860. 



1863. g 



Reorgani- 
zation, 
1866. 



Seymour's 

Spurious 
Cerneau Rite, 
N.Y.City, 1879. 



Hopkins 
Thomp- 
son 
Bodv. 
NY-,i881. 



Consol- 
idation. 
1867. 



(crea- 
ted). 



Negro "Cerneau" 
" Scottish ' • Scottish 

Rite " Bodies. Rite " Bodies. 
(Irregular.) (Unauthorized.) 



White and Negro Spurious 
Bodies, recognized nowhere. 



Anc. Accepted Scottish Rite. 

Northern Southern 

Jurisdictions, U. S. A. 



Regular Bodies, universally 
recognized. 



4 



1761 
1762 



1767 



1770 



1774 



1781 



Stephen Morin, 25°, 
Inspector for America, Rite] of Perfection, Paris, 1761. 

Henry A. Francken, 25\ Jackmel, Jamaica, 1762. 
Dep. Inspector for North America. 



1790 

1795 

1798 

1799 
1801 

1802 
1806 



M. M. Hays, 25% Boston, 
1767-70, Dep; Ins. for North America. 



Aug, Prevost, 25°, Dep. Ins., 
Jamaica. 1774. 



P. Le B. Du Plessis, 25°, Dep. Ins 
Phila. 1790. 



«B. Spftzer, 25°, Dep. for Georgia 

"Phila. | 1781. * 
'M. Cohen, 25°,' Phila., 1781. 



Abr. Jacobs, 25°, Jamaica," 1790, 



John Mitcbell, 25°, Dep.. for S. C. 
Charleston, 1795. 



Germain Hacquet, 25" 
Phila. 1798. 



Hym. I. Long, 25°, Phila., 1795. 

A. F. A. De Grasse Tilly, 25°, Charleston 
1796. 



Mathieu Du Potet, 25 c 
Port Republic, 1799. 




Fred'k Dalcho, 33°, S. G. I. G 
Charleston, 1801. 

A. F. A. De Grasse Tilly. 33°! S. G. I. G. J ' B> ** La Hogue 33° S. G. I. G. 
Charleston, 1801. Charleston, .1801. 

I > 

Antolne Bideaud. 33°, S. G. 1. G. P - ** B - £ u Plessis, 33° S. G. I. G. 

Jamaica 1802. pllUa - I 1802. 



C i. G. Tardy, 

J. B. Desdoity, 32°. 

Dep. Insp., , New York 1806. 



^ 



VTardy, Gourgab, and Desdoity, 
New 'York 1807-8. 



M. L. M. Peixotto, 82°. N. Y., 1808. 



1761 
1768 



1770 



1774 



1781 



1790 



1795 



1799 



1801 



1807 



CHART SHOWING THE SUCCESSION OF AUTHORITY AMONG THE ORIGINAL 

CHIEFS OF "SCOTTISH" FREEMASONRY IN THE UNITED STATES, 

AND AMONG THE EARLIER POSSESSORS OF THE 33d 

DEGREE, ANCIENT ACCEPTED SCOTTISH RITE. 



FREEMASONRY 



51 



In 1862 there were four Supreme Coun- 
cils in the United States — that of the South- 
ern Jurisdiction, at Charleston, the orig- 
inator of the rite of thirty-three degrees ; 
the Van Eensselaer and the Eaymond rival 
bodies, each claiming to be the Supreme 
Council for the Northern Jurisdiction ; and, 
fourth, the Cerneau Supreme Council, "for 
the United States of America, its Territories 
and Dependencies." The first three held 
fraternal relations with like bodies in Eng- 
land, Scotland, Ireland, France, Belgium, 
and in Central and South American coun- 
tries. An active warfare was in progress 
between the Van Eensselaer and Eaymond 
Councils, with the former apparently the 
more successful in creating subordinate 
bodies and obtaining new members. On 
April 2, 1862, the Cerneau body made 
overtures to the Eaymond Supreme Coun- 
cil looking to union, though some chron- 
iclers (Cerneau members) say the Eaymond 
people made the advances. In any event, 
each side appointed a conference committee, 
which committees met and reported in favor 
of union, whereupon the committees were 
continued with full power to act. On 
April 13, 1863, complete union was effected 
under the title by which the Cerneau body 
had been known, Supreme Council for the 
United States of America, etc., with E. 
B. Hays, who had been at the head of 
the Cerneau body, as the Grand Com- 
mander of the union Council. The contin- 
uation of the name Supreme Council for 
the United States of America, etc., with 
Hays at the head of the new Supreme 
Council, should not be regarded as an evi- 
dence that the Cerneau organization swal- 
lowed the Eaymond body. This is plainly 
shown by all the members of both the unit- 
ing bodies taking an oath of fealty, and all 
the subordinate organizations of the Cer- 
neau and of the Eaymond Councils sur- 
rendering their old charters to, and tak- 
ing out new charters from the new, or 
united Supreme Council. More than this, 
it will be recalled that offices of both the 



Supreme Councils were then held ad vitam, 
and that at the union those offices were va- 
cated and refilled, after which the incum- 
bents were duly installed. No more com- 
plete or perfect action could have been 
taken to emphasize the fact that the union 
Supreme Council of 1863 was a newly 
formed body. Whether its members then 
regarded its authority as based on Cerneau's 
assumption of power in 1806, or on De la 
Motta's action at New York in 1813, is im- 
material. By 1865 the Civil War had 
ended, and the rival Supreme Councils at 
the North — the Van Eensselaer and the 
united Cerneau-Eaymond bodies — were anx- 
ious for recognition from the mother 
Supreme Council at Charleston ; if for no 
other reason, to secure regularity and ex- 
clusive territorial jurisdiction. It was in 
this year, too, that Harry J. Seymour was 
defeated for office in the Cerneau-Eaymond 
Supreme Council and afterward expelled 
for cause. Following this, two committees 
were appointed, one to visit the Supreme 
Council at Charleston, with a view to secur- 
ing recognition, and the other to consider 
the advisability of changing the name of the 
body from "for the United States of Amer- 
ica/' etc., to Northern Jurisdiction, for it was 
realized that no overtures to the Supreme 
Council, Southern Jurisdiction, would be re- 
ceived from a body claiming jurisdiction 
throughout the country. On October 22, 
1865, the latter committee reported in favor 
of that change in name, and the report w r as 
unanimously adopted. Hopkins Thompson, 
who, in 1881, led a revolt over this very 
point, was present. That the action was 
taken in order to secure recognition from 
the Southern Supreme Council, and thus 
pave the way to self-preservation, is shown 
by the united Supreme Council at its next 
session receiving and welcoming a visi- 
tor from the Southern Supreme Council. 
Late in the same year the committee to 
visit the Charleston Supreme Council re- 
ported that the latter declined to recognize 
Hays, who represented an illegal (the Cer- 



52 



FREEMASONRY 



neau) body, and that it did not regard the 
union of 1863 as legal, because Kaymond 
(who had died in 1864) had been illegally 
deposed as the Sovereign Grand Commander 
of the only legal Northern Supreme Coun- 
cil (by the Van Eensselaer body in 1861), 
and that Robinson alone (Lieutenant Grand. 
Commander of the old Kaymond body), now 
Lieutenant Grand Commander of the united 
Cerneau-Raymond body, could succeed Ray- 
mond. Hays thereupon resigned his office, 
and was succeeded by Robinson in the pres- 
ence of a majority of all the officers and 
members of the Supreme Council. But this 
was not to suffice. The Van Rensselaer 
schism was in existence and prosperous, 
numbering among its officers several former 
ad vitam officials of the Raymond Supreme 
Council of 1860, the only Supreme Council 
the Southern body could recognize. Com- 
plete union was therefore necessary, and to 
accomplish it, reorganization of the Cerneau- 
Raymond body was necessary. Robinson, 
therefore, as successor of Raymond, called a 
special meeting of the old Raymond Council 
at Boston, December 11, 1866. Most of the 
officers of the latter were members of the 
Van Rensselaer Council, and naturally de- 
clined to be present, whereupon Robinson, 
in strict accord with his prerogative, filled 
the vacancies from among the twelve active 
and ten honorary members of the united 
Cerneau-Raymond Supreme Council who 
were present. Men of whom the world at 
large has never heard, to whom self rather 
than fraternity has been a creed, who have 
hankered for Masonic office and the oppor- 
tunity to peddle degrees and titles rather 
than for the union and prosperity of the 
Craft, have held that this action of Robin- 
son at Boston amounted merely to the dis- 
solution of the Cerneau-Raymond Council. 
As a matter of fact, it was not only a disso- 
lution of it, but a reorganization of the 
Cerneau-Raymond body in order to make 
the latter regular under the statutes and 
regulations, the recognition of honesty in 
fraternity politics as opposed to assumption 



and deception. The reorganized Cerneau- 
Raymond Council thus honestly acquired 
what it had unanimously resolved to secure 
the year before, the title "Northern Juris- 
diction," in place of "United States of 
America, its Territories and Dependencies." 
That the action at Boston in 1866 was not 
regarded by those present as a coup, in order 
to merely revive the old Northern, or Ray- 
mond, Supreme Council and swallow the 
Cerneau-Raymond Council, is shown by the 
fact that all the officers of the latter were re- 
elected, and that no oaths of fealty were re- 
quired. Overtures were then made looking 
to a union with the Van Rensselaer Supreme 
Council. Committees to consider the pro- 
ject were appointed by each body, which met 
at Boston in 1867, just prior to the annual 
session of the Van Rensselaer Supreme Coun- 
cil. After prolonged conference, during 
which it seemed at times as if the outcome 
could only be failure, a treaty of union was 
agreed to, which was ratified by both Su- 
preme Councils and approved by all the 
honorary members. After rescinding acts of 
expulsion based on former differences, the 
two Supreme Councils ratified each other's 
acts, and Josiah H. Drummond of Maine 
was elected Most Puissant Sovereign Grand 
Commander of the (consolidated) Supreme 
Council, Northern Jurisdiction, by concur- 
rent vote of the two bodies, which came to- 
gether as one. The oath of fealty was then 
taken to the consolidated Supreme Council 
by eighty members present. The career of 
this Supreme Council ever since has been 
one of harmony and prosperity, and it is 
to-day the largest body of the kind in the 
world, numbering more than 25,000 thirty- 
second degree members, about one-fifth of 
the total number of Scottish Rite Freemasons 
in the world. Among Sovereign Princes of 
the Royal Secret, 32°, and Sovereign Grand 
Inspectors General, 33°, of the Northern and 
Southern Jurisdictions, United States of 
America, are to be found many of the most 
illustrious of those who represent the pro- 
fessions, the army and navy, and financial, 



FREEMASONRY 



53 



commercial, and industrial life. The two 
Supreme Councils who now divide between 
them the United States of America, its 
territories and dependencies, hold amicable 
relations with Supreme Councils of the A. 
A. S. R. for England, Scotland, Ireland, 
France, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Italy, 
Greece, Switzerland, Brazil, Argentine Re- 
public, Uruguay, Peru, United States of 
Colombia, Chili, Central America, Cuba, 
Mexico, the Dominion of Canada, Egypt, 
and Tunis. 

The degrees of the Ancient, Accepted 
Scottish Rite, from the fourth to the thirty- 
second, inclusive, are conferred in the North- 
ern Masonic Jurisdiction, United States of 
America, in four bodies, and make of the 
Master Mason a Sublime Prince of the Royal 
Secret. Grand Lodges of Perfection, not 
Grand Lodges in the ordinary sense of the 
words, induct candidates into the mysteries 
of eleven ineffable degrees, fourth to four- 
teenth, inclusive, of which the first nine are 
additions to and explanations and elabora- 
tions of the second section of the Master's 
degree, so familiar to all Freemasons. The 
names of the thirty-three degrees of Scottish 
Rite Freemasonry are given in full in an ac- 
companying chart of the English, Scottish, 
and American Rites. The thirteenth and 
fourteenth degrees of the Scottish Rite, form- 
ing the summit of work performed in Grand 
Lodges of Perfection, correspond to, but are 
in rfo sense identical with, the English Royal 
Arch degree as worked in Royal Arch 
Chapters in the American Rite. They are 
founded historically on the royal arch of 
Enoch instead of the royal arch of Zerub- 
babel, which forms the basis of the English 
royal arch degree. Many among those com- 
petent to judge favor the theory elsewhere 
outlined, that the English royal arch of 
Zerubbabel was an outgrowth of the earlier, 
continental royal arch of Enoch of about 
1740, and that Laurence Dermott had as 
much to do with the changes made as he 
had with the introduction of this ampli- 
fication of the old Master's degree among 



British Freemasons. The Grand Elect, Per- 
fect, and Sublime Mason, fourteenth degree, 
is eligible to receive the historical degrees, 
Knight of the East and Sword, and Prince 
of Jerusalem, the fifteenth and sixteenth, 
respectively, of the system. These relate to 
the rebuilding of the second holy Temple at 
Jerusalem under the authority of King 
Cyrus and Darius his successor. From 
them the modern framers of the ritual of 
the degree of Companion of the Red Cross, 
conferred in Commanderies of Knights Tem- 
plars, have borrowed freely. 

The philosophical degrees of the Scottish 
Rite, Knight of the East and West, and 
Knight of the Eagle and Pelican, or Rose 
Croix, the seventeenth and eighteenth, are 
conferred in Chapters of Rose Croix and 
" relate to the building of the third Temple, 
'one not made with hands,' within the 
heart of man." In the Rose Croix degree, 
Scottish Rite Freemasonry reaches its sum- 
mit as a teacher of the sublime truths of 
Christianity, and it is from this degree, as 
well as others of the Rite, that the Ameri- 
can Templar ritual draws some of its more 
impressive ceremonials. The degrees from 
the nineteenth to the thirty-second, inclu- 
sive, historical and philosophical, are con- 
ferred under the sanction of a Consistory or 
Areopagus of Knights of Kadosch. 

The thirty-third and last degree of An- 
cient, Accepted Scottish Masonry is conferred 
upon thirty-second degree Freemasons who 
have rendered long or distinguished service 
to the Craft. It is executive in its func- 
tion, recipients being members of the Su- 
preme Council, or governing body, of the 
Rite. In the Southern Jurisdiction in the 
United States there is an intermediate grade 
between the thirty-second and thirty-third 
degrees, known as the Court of Honor, com- 
posed of (a) Masters of the Royal Secret, 
and (b) Inspectors General (thirty-third 
degree), active, emeriti, and honorary. 
There is also the rank of Knight of the 
Court of Honor, consisting of two grades, 
Knight Commander and Grand Cross of 



54 



FREEMASONRY 



Honor. Sovereign Grand Inspectors Gen- 
eral, by which title members of Supreme 
Councils of the Eite are known throughout 
the world, are classed, practically, as active, 
emeriti, and honorary. Only those in the 
first class are permitted to be present at ex- 
ecutive sessions of Supreme Councils, and 
"actives" alone create thirty-third degree 
members. The total number of active thirty- 
third degree members is very small, probably 
not exceeding one hundred in North Amer- 
ica, and not exceeding three hundred in all 
countries. There are fewer than fifty in 
the Northern Jurisdiction in the United 
States — north of the Ohio and east of the 
Mississippi Eivers — -and still fewer in the re- 
maining States. The list of emeriti Sover- 
eign Grand Inspectors General is very short, 
and, as the title implies, includes the few 
" actives " who have retired from the labors 
of the governing body full of honors and 
advancing years. The custom of creating 
honorary Sovereign Grand Inspectors Gen- 
eral is one which has grown up within a 
generation, as a means of advancing and 
rewarding enthusiastic and active Sublime 
Princes of the Eoyal Secret one step nearer 
the goal which, of course, all may not reach. 
There are nearly six hundred names of hon- 
orary " thirty-thirds " in the Northern and 
nearly four hundred in the Southern Juris- 
diction of the United States. A full list of 
the names and places of residence of active 
and honorary Sovereign Grand Inspectors 
General, 33°, in the United States, January 
1, 1898, may be found in an accompany- 
ing Masonic Directory. Official position in 
a Supreme Council was formerly for life, 
and in nearly all, except the Northern Ju- 
risdiction, where the term is three years, it 
continues so. But even in the Supreme 
Council of the Northern Jurisdiction fitness 
for the position insures continued reelection 
at every triennial meeting, so that where 
nothing transpires to make a change desir- 
able, the kingly prerogative of life tenure in 
office is still in force. 

It remains to be related that there are two 



spurious Supreme Councils "A. A. S. E." 
in the United States, one of which is 
founded on fraud and the other on misrep- 
resentation and personal pique. Neither 
numbers many adherents, and each is only 
nominally or locally active. Both claim 
the name, authority of, and regular descent 
from Cerneau, and the founders of both 
know that their claims are without founda- 
tion. The older calls itself "the Supreme 
Council of the thirty-third and last degree 
of A. A. S. E. Masonry, organized by T. I. 
Joseph Cerneau, M. P. S. G. C, October 
27, 1807, for the U. S. A., its Territories 
and Dependencies." Its real founder was 
Harry J. Seymour, who was expelled from 
the Cerneau-Eaymond Council in 1865, for 
reasons which should have caused his name 
to be struck from the list of acquaintances 
of every self-respecting Master Mason. Sey- 
mour was once well-to-do, but afterward felt 
compelled to follow in the footsteps of Abra- 
ham Jacobs, whose name is on the chart of 
filiated powers accompanying this sketch.* 
Jacobs was a notorious peddler of degrees, 
who was expelled for illegal assumption of 
Masonic authority. Seymour was initiated 
into the Eite of Memphis in Paris in 1862, 
and after being expelled from the Scottish 
Eite in the United States in 1865, started 
out for himself by organizing alleged Scot- 
tish Eite bodies in New York city, into 
which well-meaning Master Masons were 
inducted, at so much apiece, by himself as 
hierophant and purveyor of regalia and para- 
phernalia at cent-per-cent prices. • Some 
who were duped by him, who have since 
joined regular Scottish Eite bodies, vouch 
for this statement, and for the fact that at 
one time he used a condensation of the Eite 
of Memphis as his "Cerneau Eite." In 
1879 he organized a Supreme Council, claim- 
ing to have been constituted the head of the 
Cerneau Eite by Hays, who died in 1874 
member of the consolidated Northern Su- 

* See footnote to chronological events in the 
career of the Southern, Northern, and Cerneau 
Supreme Councils. 



FREEMASONRY 



55 



preme Council. So transparent a fraud 
would seem to have been apparent to any 
sane man over twenty-one years of age. 
Cagliostro found his victims, Jacobs his, 
and Seymour evidently had several of his 
own. The descent is precipitant but mani- 
fest. Enough material in the way of new 
members has been secured by Peckham, 
Gorgas, Hibbs, and other successors of Sey- 
mour to enable them to go through the mo- 
tions of maintaining so-called Consistories 
in New York city and Jersey City, and, in 
former years, at a few other cities, and to 
report having held annual sessions of a Su- 
preme Council. The only regret is that a 
few hundred innocent and honest Master 
Masons have been taken advantage of and 
induced to part with their money and inter- 
est — for nothing. This Seymour- Cerneau 
organization is repudiated by Supreme Coun- 
cils throughout the world, and its adherents 
must place themselves in the category with 
those who find themselves deceived because 
they failed to examine before buying. A 
large precentage of the Grand Masters of 
Grand Lodges, Grand High Priests of Grand 
Chapters, Very Eminent Commanders of 
Grand Commanderies of Knights Templars, 
their associate officers, past and present, 
and thousands of other members of the Craft 
throughout the United States are members 
of Scottish Eite bodies holding obedience to 
the legitimate Supreme Councils, the North- 
ern and Southern Jurisdictions. The unin- 
formed Master Mason has only to inquire to 
learn. 

Not until 1881 was the second existing 
spurious Supreme Council "A. A. S. R." 
formed, fourteen years after the union of 
1867. It was organized at New York by 
Hoj)kins Thompson (an emeritus thirty- 
third of the Northern Supreme Council, 
who was not present at Boston when Rob- 
inson reorganized the Cerneau-Raymond 
Council, but who was present at and swore 
fealty to the consolidated Council in 1867). 
He was aided by a few honorary thirty- 
third, and one thirty-second degree mem- 



ber on whom the consolidated Northern 
Supreme Council had refused to confer the 
thirty-third degree, eleven in all. When 
the full proceedings of the action of the 
Cerneau-Raymond Council leading up to 
thexonsolidation of 1867 were published in 
1881, all of which had been known at the 
time, these men claimed to have just dis- 
covered that when Robinson dissolved the 
Cerneau-Raymond Council at Boston in 
1866, and reorganized it under the name 
Northern Jurisdiction, that they were there- 
by absolved from their oaths of fealty to the 
union Council of 1863. They, therefore, 
with Hopkins Thompson as the alleged suc- 
cessor of Cerneau, et ah, claimed to revive 
the old Cerneau body, that which united 
with the Raymond Supreme Council in 1863. 
Their oaths of fealty to the consolidated Su- 
preme Council of 1867 were repudiated be- 
cause, as alleged, they were obtained by 
keeping them in ignorance of all the facts. 
Their antagonism to the Seymour organi- 
zation is bitter. Naturally the Thompson 
party repudiates the Southern as well as the 
Northern Supreme Councils, and continues 
an existence on paper, isolated from all other 
Supreme Councils in the world. Its total 
active membership does not number more 
than a few hundred. Many who have joined 
it have discovered they were deceived and 
have retired. Its centres of activity are 
at New York city, Columbus, 0., Washing- 
ton, D. C, and Minneapolis, Minn. In 
Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Iowa, 
and Nebraska, Master Masons render them- 
selves liable to suspension by joining Cer- 
neau Scottish Rite bodies, and the Grand 
Lodge in Ohio has been sustained by the 
courts in its position on this point. 

MASONIC DIRECTORY. 

Secretaries of Sovereign Grand Lodges of Free and 
Accepted llasons in the United States. 

Alabama H. C. Armstrong. .Montgomery. 

Arizona G. J. Roskruge . . .Tucson. 

Arkansas F. H. Hempstead .Little Rock. 

California Gr. Johnson San Francisco. 



56 



FREEMASONRY 



Colorado 

Connecticut 

Delaware 

District of Colum 

Florida 

Georgia 

Idaho 

Illinois 

Indiana 

Indian Territory. 

Iowa 

Kansas 

Kentucky 

Louisiana 

Maine 

Maryland 

Massachusetts . . . 

Michigan 

Minnesota , 

Mississippi , 

Missouri , 

Montana 

Nebraska 

Nevada 

New Hampshire . 

New Jersey 

New Mexico 

New York 

North Carolina . 
North Dakota . . , 

Ohio 

Oklahoma 

Oregon , 

Pennsylvania. . . 
Rhode Island. . . 
South Carolina . 

South Dakota 

Tennessee 

Texas 

Utah 

Vermont 

Virginia 

Washington 

West Virginia . . . 

Wisconsin 

Wyoming , 



Ed. C. Parmalee . . 
John H. Barlow. . . 

B. F. Bartram 

W. R. Singleton . . 
W. P. Webster . . . 

A. M. Wolihin 

Theop.W. Randall 

J. H. C. Dill 

W. H. Smythe. . . . 

J. S. Murrow 

T. S. Parvin 

Albert K. Wilson. . 

H. B. Grant 

R. Lambert 

Stephen Berry 

J. H. Medairy 

S. D. Nickerson . . . 

J. S. Conover 

T. Montgomery . . . 
J. L. Power 

J. D. Vincil 

Cornelius Hedges . 
W. R. Bowen 

C. N. Noteware . . . 

G. P. Cleaves 

T. H. R. Redway . 
A. A. Keen 

E. M. L. Ehlers. . . 
John C. Drewry. . . 

F. J. Thompson . . 
J. H. Bromwell. . . 

J. S. Hunt 

James F. Robinson, 
William A. Sinn . . 

E. Baker 

C. Inglesby 

G. A. Pettigrew. . . 
John B. Garrett. . . 

John Watson 

C. Diehl 

W. G.Reynolds... 
G. W. Carrington . 

T. M. Reed 

G. W. Atkinson.. . 

J. W. Laflin 

W. L. Kuykendall. 



Denver. 

Hartford. 

Wilmington. 

Washington. 

Jacksonville. 

.Macon. 

.Boise City. 

Bloomington. 

, Indianapolis. 

Atoka. 

Cedar Rapids. 

Topeka. 

Louisville. 

New Orleans. 

Portland. 

Baltimore. 

Boston. 

Cold water. 

St. Paul. 

, Jackson. 

St. Louis. 

Helena. 

Omaha. 

Carson City. 

Concord. 

Trenton. 

Albuquerque. 

New York. 

Raleigh. 

Fargo. 

Cincinnati. 

Stillwater. 

Eugene City. 

Philadelphia. 

Providence. 

Charleston. 

Flandreau. 

Nashville. 

Houston. 

Salt Lake City. 

Burlington. 

Richmond. 

Olympia. 

Wheeling. 

Milwaukee. 



General Grand Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, 
U. S. A., General Grand Secretary, Christopher 
G. Fox, Buffalo, N. Y. 

General Grand Council of Royal and Select 
Masters, U. S. A., General Grand Recorder, Henry 
W. Mordhurst, Fort Wayne, Ind. 

General Encampment of Knights Templars, 
U. S. A., Grand Recorder, Wm. H. Mayo, St. 
Louis, Mo. 



Ancient, Accepted Scottish Rite. 

Supreme Council, Sovereign'' Grand Inspectors 
General, 33°, Southern Jurisdiction (south of Mason 
and Dixon line and west of the Mississippi River), 
U. S. A. 

Thomas H. Caswell, 33°, Most Puissant Sover- 
eign Grand Commander, San Francisco, Cal. 

Frederick Webber, Illustrious Grand Secretary 
General, 33°, No. 433 North 3d Street, Washing- 
ton, D. C. 

The complete list of active thirty-third degree 
members of the Supreme Council, Sovereign Grand 
Inspectors General, Southern Jurisdiction, 1897, is 
as follows : 

Adams, Samuel E Minneapolis, Minn. # 

Carr, Erasmus T Miles City, Mont. 

Caswell, Thomas H San Francisco, Cal. 

Chamberlain, Austin B Galveston, Tex. 

Collins, Martin St. Louis, Mo. 

Cortland, J. Wakefield Asheville, N. C. 

Fellows, John Q. A New Orleans, La. 

Fitzgerald, Adolphus L Eureka, Nev. 

Fleming, Rufus E Fargo, N. D. 

Foote, Frank M Evanston, Wyo. 

Hayden, James R Seattle, Wash. 

Henry, James A Little Rock, Ark. 

Levin, Nathaniel Charleston, S. C. 

Long, Odel S Charleston, W. Va. 

McLean, William A Jacksonville, Fla. 

Mayer, John F Richmond, Va. 

Meredith, Gilmor Baltimore, Md. 

Moore, George F Montgomery, Ala. 

Nun, Richard J Savannah, Ga. 

Parvin, Theodore S Cedar Rapids, la. 

Pierce, William F Oakland, Cal. 

Pratt, Irving W Portland, Ore. 

Richardson, James D Murfreesboro, Tenn. 

Sherman, Buren R Vinton, la. 

Teller, Henry M Central City, Colo. 

Todd, Samuel M New Orleans, La. 

Webber, Frederick Washington, D. C. 

The following is a complete list of honorary 
thirty-third degree members of the Supreme Coun- 
cil, A. A. S. R., Southern Jurisdiction of the United 
States, for 1897 : 

Alabama. 
Billing, Fay McC Montgomery. 

Arkansas. 

Kramer, Frederick Little Rock. 

Rosenbaum, Charles E Little Rock. 

Rickon, Frederick J. H Little Rock. 

Arizona. 

Freeman, Merrill P Tucson. 

Kales, Martin W. . . . Phoenix. 

Roskruge, George J Tucson. 



FREEMASONRY 



57 



California. 

Hobe, George J San Francisco. 

Goodman, Theodore H San Francisco. 

Sherman, Edwin A Oakland. 

Spaulding, Nathan W Oakland. 

Daugherty, Charles M Oakland. 

Buck, Silas M Eureka. 

Stone, Charles E Marysville. 

Merritt, James B Oakland. 

Gillett, Charles E Oakland. 

Petrie, William M Sacramento. 

Davies, William A .San Francisco. 

Waterhouse, Columbus .San Francisco. 

De Clairmont, Ralph San Francisco. 

Rosenstock, Samuel W San Francisco. 

Lloyd, Reuben H San Francisco. 

Levy, Samuel W San Francisco. 

Patterson, George Oakland. 

Crocker, Charles F San Francisco. 

Daniell, William H Northampton, Mass. 

Cline, Henry A San Francisco. 

Rader, Frank Los Angeles. 

Lee, James G. C San Francisco. 

Fletcher, LeRoy D Oakland. 

Pallon, Charles L San Francisco. 

Pierce, Charles L. J. W Oakland. 

Davis, Jacob Z San Francisco. 

Wagner, Charles W. A San Francisco. 

Lask, Harry J San Francisco. 

Jones, Florin L Pasadena. 

Langdon, Frederick S Los Angeles. 

Colorado. 

Greenleaf, Lawrence N Denver. 

Parmalee, Edward C Denver. 

Pomeroy, Richard A New Iberia, La. 

Orahood, Harper M Denver. 

Gove, Aaron Denver. 

Hill, Frank B Denver. 

District of Columbia. 

Ingle, Christopher Washington. 

Brown, Joseph T New Rochelle, N. Y. 

Bennett, Clement W Washington. 

Singleton, William R Washington. 

MaeGrotty, Edwin B Washington. 

Schmid. John E. C Washington. 

Somerville, Thomas . Washington. 

Roome, William Oscar Washington. 

Taylor, Joseph C Washington. 

Roose, William S. Washington. 

Loockerman, Thomas G Georgetown. 

Lansburgh, James Washington. 

Duncanson, Charles C Washington. 

Taylor, Leroy M Washington. 

Balloch, George W Washington. 

Noyes, Isaac P Washington. 



Baldwin, Aaron Washington. 

Woodman, Francis J Washington. 

Goldsmith, Louis Washington. 

Naylor, Allison, Jr Washington. 

Ball, Robert Washington. 

Willis, Edward M Washington. 

Florida. 
Perry, Robert J Key West, 

Georgia. 

Blackshear, James E Savannah. 

Wolihin, Andrew M Macon. 

Stockdell, Henry C Atlanta. 

Cavanaugh, John H Savannah. 

Hawaiian Islands. 

Williams, Henry H Honolulu. 

West, Gideon 

Indian Territory. •» 

Hill, Robert W Muscogee. 

Iowa. 

Ashton, George W Lyons. 

Cotton, Aylett R San Francisco, Cal. 

Parker. George W Lyons. 

Morton, James Cedar Rapids. 

Van Deventer, James T Knoxville, Tenn. 

Lamb, Artemus Clinton. 

Bever, George W Cedar Rapids. 

Ellis, Lyman A Lyons. 

Fidlar, Wilbur F Davenport. 

Curtis, Charles F Clinton. 

Woodward, Benjamin S Clinton. 

Blakely, Frederick L Lyons. 

Gardiner, Silas Wright Lyons. 

Wadleigh, Leroy B Clinton. 

Watson, William P Vinton. 

Macy, John C Des Moines. 

Percival, Frederick A Des Moines. 

Park, William A Des Moines. 

Head, Albert Des Moines. 

Gage, Elbridge F Cedar Rapids. 

Ray, Frank G Vinton. 

Parvin, Newton R Cedar Rapids. 

Lacey, Thomas B Council Bluffs. 

Japan. 

Langf elt, August Yokohama. 

Keil, Oscar Yokohama. 

Kansas. 

Sherman, Adrian C Rossville. 

Freeling, Peter J Leavenworth. 

Miller, Matthew M Topeka. 

Carpenter, John C Leavenworth. 

Langdon, Burton E Louisville, Ky. 

Emmons, Alonzo C Leavenworth. 

Davis, Evan Lawrence. 



58 



FREEMASONRY 



Kansas. — Continued. 

Cole, Jeremiah S Freeport, 111. 

Smith, Jeremiah G Wichita. 

Cunningham, Harper S Oklahoma, Okl. 

Seitz, John G. Salina. 

Liepman, Joseph H . Fort Scott. 

McDermott, Fenton L Fort Scott. 

Jones, Charles M Wichita. 

Goldberg, Edward Wichita. 

Loomis, Henry C Winfield. 

Norton, Jonathan D Topeka. 

Passon, David Lawrence. 

Hass, James H Topeka. 

Kentucky. 

Gray, Henry W Louisville. 

Freeman, Ambrose W St. Louis, Mo. 

Reinecke, William Louisville. 

Hall, Edwin G West Side, Cal. 

Ryan, William . . . Louisville. 

Sloss, Levi Louisville. 

Smith, Kilbourn W Louisville. 

Vogt, Charles C Louisville. 

Fisk, Charles H Covington. 

Miller, Robert T Covington. 

Dudley, Thomas U Louisville. 

Johnson, Frank H Louisville. 

Thomas, Warren La Rue. . . .Maysville. 

Livezey, Thomas E Covington. 

Wilson, David H Louisville. 

Johnson, William R Louisville. 

Kopmeier, George Louisville. 

Staton, James W Brooksville. 

Pruett, John W Frankfort. 

Witt, Bernard G Henderson. 

Ranshaw, Henry Covington. 

Robinson, Eugene A Maysville. 

Louisiana. 

Craig, Emmett DeW New Orleans. 

Isaacson, Alfred H New Orleans. 

Brice, Albert G New Orleans. 

Soule, George New Orleans. 

Hero, Andrew, Jr New Orleans. 

Kells, Charles Edmund 

Norwood, Abel J 

Quayle, Mark New Orleans. 

Buck, Charles F New Orleans. 

Lambert, Richard New Orleans. 

Schneiden, Paul M New Orleans. 

Pinckard, George J New Orleans. 

Collins, William J .New Orleans. 

Coulter, Henry W New Orleans. 

Pratts, Jose Alaban y New Orleans. 

Maryland. 

Jenkins, Benjamin W Baltimore. 

Cisco, Charles T Baltimore. 



Wiesenfeld, David Baltimore. 

Shryock, Thomas J Baltimore. 

Larrabee, Henry C Baltimore. 

Minnesota. 

Hayden, Francis A Chicago, 111. 

Nash, Charles W St. Paul. 

Hotchkiss, Edward A Minneapolis. 

Williams, James M Minneapolis. 

Whitman, Ozias Red Wing. 

Merrill, Giles W .St. Paul. 

Thompson, Joseph H Minneapolis. 

Ferry, John C St. Paul. 

Metcalf, George R St. Paul. 

Wright, William H. S St. Paul. 

Hugo, Trevanion W Duluth. 

Schlener, John A Minneapolis. 

Jewett, William P St. Paul. 

Levering, Anthony Z Minneapolis. 

Metcalf, Oscar M St. Paul. 

Powell, Milton E Redwood Falls. 

Dobbin, Joseph L Minneapolis. 

Randall, John H Minneapolis. 

Higbee, Albert E Minneapolis. 

Kilvington, Samuel S Minneapolis. 

Richardson, William E Duluth. 

Missouri. 

Loker, William N St. Louis. 

Garrett, Thomas E St. Louis. 

Thacher, Stephen D Kansas City. 

Parsons, John R St. Louis. 

Morrow, Thomas R Kansas City. 

Altheimer, Benjamin St. Louis. 

Stowe, James G Kansas City. 

Harvey, William Kansas City. 

Stewart, Alphonse C St. Louis. 

Mayo, William H St. Louis. 

Nelson, Benjamin F St. Louis. 

Mississippi. 
Speed, Frederic Vicksburg. 

Montana. 

Hedges, Cornelius Helena. 

Major, John C Helena. 

Guthrie, Henry H Helena. 

Frank, Henry L Butte. 

Fowler, William C Genesee, Ida. 

Hitman, Cyrus W Livingston. 

Lashorn, Millard H Livingston. 

Nebraska. 

Furnas, Robert W Brownsville. 

Betts, George C . . . .' New Jersey. 

Deuel, Harry P Omaha. 

Monell, John J., Jr Omaha. 

Fulleys, James A Red Cloud. 

Oakley, Roland H Lincoln. 



FREEMASONRY 



59 



Nebraska. — Continued. 

Rawalt, Benjamin F Dubois, Colo. 

Young 1 , Frank H. Broken Bow. 

Duke, Elbert T Omaha. 

Warren, Edwin F Nebraska City. 

Cleburne, William Omaha. 

Sewell, Thomas Lincoln. 

Huntington, Charles S Omaha. 

Webster, Edward C Hastings. 

Akin, Henry C Omaha. 

France, George B 

Mercer, John J Omaha. 

Sudborough, Thomas K .Omaha. 

Kenyon, William J. C. . . . v .Omaha. 

Anderson, Leverett M Omaha. 

Wheeler, Daniel H Omaha. 

Korty, Lewis H Omaha. 

Newell, Henry Omaha. 

Hall, Frank M Lincoln. 

Keene, Louis McL Freemont. 

Nevada. 

Laughton, Charles E Carson City. 

Buttlar, Charles J. R Oakland, Cal. 

Harmon, Fletcher H Eureka. 

Hall, David H Eureka. 

Torre, Giovanni Eureka. 

North Dakota. 

Burke, Andrew H Duluth, Minn. 

Paxton, Thomas C Minneapolis, Minn. 

Thompson, Frank J Fargo. 

Twamley, James Grand Forks. 

Darrow, Edward McL Fargo. 

Plumley, Horatio C Fargo. 

Kneisley, Charles C Davenport, la. 

Schwellenbach, Ernest J Jamestown. 

Guptil, Albert B Fargo. 

Knowlton, Roswell W Fargo. 

Nash, Francis B Fargo. 

Scott, William A Fargo. 

Oregon. 

Dolph, Joseph N Portland. 

Foster, John R Portland. 

Shurtliff, Ferdinand N Portland. 

Pope, Seth L Portland. 

Roberts, Andrew Portland. 

Malcolm, Philip S Portland. 

Whitehouse, Benjamin G Portland. 

Withington, George E Portland. 

Clark, Louis G Portland. 

Tuthill, David S Portland. 

Mayer, Jacob Portland. 

Chance, George H Portland. 

Hoyt, Henry L Portland. 

Cook, James W Portland. 



South Dakota. 

Blatt, William Yankton. 

Huntington, Eugene Webster. 

Cummings, Daniel E Deadwood. 

Leroy, Lewis G Webster. 

Maloney, Richard M Deadwood. 

South Carolina. 

Buist, John S Charleston. 

Ficken, John F Charleston. 

Mordecai, Thomas M Charleston. 

Buist, Samuel - S Charleston. 

Pankin, Charles F Charleston. 

Tennessee. 

Eastman, Charles H Nashville. 

Plumacher, Eugene H Maracaibo, Venez'la. 

Wright, Pitkin C Memphis. 

Sears, John McK Memphis. 

Weller, John J Memphis. 

Texas. 

Gunner, Rudolph Dallas. 

Openheimer, Louis M Austin. 

Morst, Charles S Corsicana. 

Ashby, Joseph K Fort Worth. 

Martin, Sidney Fort Worth. 

Hotchkiss, Charles A Dallas. 

Hamilton, Benjamin Galveston. 

Gelbough, Frederick M. Galveston. 

Hunter, Craig Temple. 

United States Army. 

Head. John F Washington, D. C. 

Bailey, Elisha I San Francisco, Cal. 

Wood. Marshall W Boise Barracks, Ida. 

Hall, Robert H 

Dudley, Edgar S Columbus, 0. 

Woodruff, Carle A Fort Warren, Mass. 

Page, Charles Baltimore, Md. 

Lee, James G. C San Francisco, Cal. 

Rockefeller, Charles M. Alliance, 0. 

Sanno, James M. J Ft. Snelling, Minn. 

McConihe, Samuel Ft. Leavenw'th,Kan. 

Virginia. 

Olney, Hervey A Tilbury, Can. 

Craighill. Edward A Lynchburg. 

Greenwood, Frederick Norfolk. 

Turner, Daniel J., Jr Portsmouth. 

Nesbitt, Charles A Richmond. 

Ryan, William. ... Richmond. 

Carmichael, Hartley Richmond. 

Williams, Richard P Montgomery, Ala. 

Washington. 

O'Brien, Rossell G Olympia. 

Reed, Thomas M Olympia. 

Zeigler, Louis .Spokane. 



60 



FREEMASONRY 



Washington. — Continued. 

Rundle, Nathan B Spokane. 

Gowey, John F Olympia. 

Thompson, Walter J. Tacoma. 

Hare, Edward R Tacoma. 

Snodgrass, Furman E Spokane. 

West Virginia. 

Walker, Kephart D Fairmount. 

Applegate, William J Wellsburg. 

Morris, John W . . .Wheeling. 

Darrah, Thomas M Wheeling. 

Birch, John M Wheeling. 

McCahon, James Wheeling. 

Wyoming. 

Knight, Jesse Evanston. 

Dickinson, Edward Laramie. 

Supreme Council, Sovereign Grand Inspectors 
General, 33°, Northern Jurisdiction (north of Mason 
and Dixon line and east of the Mississippi River) : 

Henry L. Palmer, 33°, Most Puissant Sovereign 
Grand Commander, Milwaukee, Wis. 

Clinton F. Paige, 33°, Illustrious Grand Secre" 
tary General, Stewart Building, New York. 

The list of active thirty-third degree members of 
the Supreme Council, Northern Jurisdiction, is as 
follows : 

Arnold, Newton D Providence, R. I. 

Babcock, Brenton D Cleveland, 0. 

Balding, Thomas E Milwaukee, Wis. 

Barnard, Gilbert W Chicago, 111. 

Bentley, George W Brooklyn N. Y. 

Buchanan, James I Pittsburgh, Pa. (Deputy.) 

Burnham, Edward P Saco, Me. 

Caven, John Indianapolis, Ind. 

Carson, Enoch T Cincinnati, 0. (Deputy.) 

Carter, Charles W Norwich, Conn. (Deputy.) 

Codding, James H Towanda, Penn. 

Cottrill, Charles M Milwaukee, Wis. (Deputy.) 

Currier, George W Nashua, N. H. (Deputy. ) 

Dame, Charles C Newburyport, Mass. 

Drummond, JosiahH Portland, Me. 

Frazee, Andrew B Camden, N. J. 

Guthrie, George W Pittsburg, Pa. 

Hawley, James H .Dixon, 111. 

Higby, William R Bridgeport, Conn. 

Highly, Francis M Philadelphia, Penn. 

Homan, William New York City, N. Y. 

Hutchinson, Charles C. ..Lowell, Mass. 

Ide, Charles E Syracuse, N. Y. (Deputy.) 

Kenyon, George H Providence, R.I. (Deputy.) 

King, Marquis F Portland, Me. (Deputy.) 

Kinsman, David N Columbus, 0. 

Lawrence, Samuel C Boston, Mass. 

McCurdy, Hugh .Corunna, Mich. (Deputy.) 

Metcalf , A. T Kalamazoo, Mich. 



Paige, Clinton F Binghamton, N. Y. 

Palmer, Henry L Milwaukee, Wis. 

Patterson, Robert E Philadelphia, Pa. 

Perkins, Marsh Windsor, Vt. (Deputy.) 

Pettibone, Amos Chicago, 111. 

Quinby, Henry B Lakeport, N. H. 

Ruckle, Nicholas R Indianapolis, Ind. 

Shirrefs, Robert A Elizabeth, N. J. (Deputy.) 

Sickels, Daniel, Brooklyn, N. Y. 

Smith, Barton Toledo, 0. 

Smith, John Corson Chicago, 111. (Deputy.) 

Smith, Joseph W Indianapolis, Ind. , 

Stettinius, John L Cincinnati, 0. 

Stevens, Walter A Chicago, 111. 

Tracy, David B Detroit, Mich. 

Tyler, George Burlington, Vt. 

Ward, J. H. Hobart Brooklyn, N. Y. 

Wells, Samuel Boston, Mass. 

Woodbury, Charles Levi.. Boston, Mass. (Deceased.) 

The following is a complete list of honorary 
thirty-third degree members, Sovereign Grand In- 
spectors General of the Supreme Council A. A. S. 
R., Northern Jurisdiction of the United States, for 



Maine. 

Locke, Joseph A Portland. 

Waite, Almon C Portland. 

Hinkley, Ruf us H Portland. 

Marston, Arlington B Bangor. 

Berry, Stephen Portland. 

Russell, John S Portland. 

Chase, Albro E Portland. 

Shaw, George R Portland. 

Bearce, Samuel F Portland. 

Mallet, Edmund B., Jr Freeport. 

Farnham, Augustus B Bangor. 

Penley, Albert M Auburn. 

Burnham, William J Lewiston. 

Merrill, Jonathan A Portland. 

Hastings, Moses M Bangor. 

Mason, Wm. Castein Bangor. 

Harris, Herbert East Machias 

Day, Fessenden I Lewiston. 

Heath, Elbridge G Auburn. 

Hicks, Millard F Portland. 

Raymond, George E Portland. 

Burr, Thomas W Bangor. 

Treby, Johnson Augusta. 

New Hampshire. 

Atherton, Henry B Nashua. 

Fellows, Joseph W Manchester. 

Cleaves, George P Concord. 

Webster, John F Concord. 

Shattuck, Joseph Nashua. 

Webster, Charles H Nashua. 



FREEMASONRY 



61 



New Hampshire. — Continued. 

Danf orth, Charles C Concord. 

Smith, Henry B Nashua. 

Sanders, Frank L Concord. 

Hunt, Nathan P Manchester. 

Hatch, John. . ,. Greenland. 

Kent, Henry Lancaster. 

Hatch, Oscar C Littleton. 

Clark, John H Nashua. 

Towle, Charles N Concord. 

Hayes, Charles C Manchester. 

Marsh, Henry A Nashua. 

Fletcher, Thomas M Alder Brook. 

Wait, Albert S Newport. 

Vermont. 

Underwood, Levi Burlington. 

Paine, Milton K Windsor. 

Heaton, Charles H Montpelier. 

Johnson, Miron W Burlington. 

Hill, Howard F Concord, N. H. 

Fisher, Frederick S Deposit, X. Y. 

Nichols, Albro F St. Johnsbury. 

Reynolds, Warren G Burlington. 

Kinsley, George H Burlington. 

Jackson, J. Henry Barre. 

Cummings, Silas W St. Albans. 

Nichols, Sayles Burlington. 

Hall, Alfred A St. Albans. 

Wing, George W Montpelier. 

Wlritcomb, Charles W Cavendish. 

Wright, Robert J Newport. 

Nicholson, Daniel N Burlington. 

Calderwood, Charles A St. Johnsbury. 

Thompson, Jesse E Rutland. 

Whipple, John H Manchester. 

Taft, Elihu B Burlington. 

Babbitt, George II Bellows Falls. 

Webster, Daniel P Brattleboro. 

Massachusetts. 

Hathaway, Nicholas Fall River. 

Lawrence, Daniel W Medford. 

Marshall, Wyzeman Boston. 

Kelsey, Albert H .North Cambridge. 

Freeland, James H Boston. 

Hall, John K Boston. 

Smith, William A Worcester. 

Richardson, William A Washington, D. C. 

Fox, James A Boston. 

Everett, Percival L Boston. 

Nickerson, Sereno D Boston. 

Mulliken, Henry Boston. 

Carpenter, George Boston. 

Gould. Benjamin A Cambridge. 

Endicott, Henry Cambridgeport. 

Chessman, William H Boston. 

Guild, William H Boston. 



Perkins, Henry P Lowell. 

Welch, Charles A Boston. 

Weld, Otis E Boston. 

Alger, William R Boston. 

Walbridge, Frederick G Boston. 

Wright, Edwin Boston. 

Waterman, Thomas Boston. 

Smith, Albert C Boston. 

Spellman, Charles C Springfield. 

Spooner, Samuel B Springfield. 

Stevens, William J Kingston, N. H. 

Carpenter, George S Boston. 

Doolittle, Erastus H Boston. 

Young, E. Bentley Boston. 

Seward, Josiah L Lowell. 

Lakin, John H Boston. 

Buckingham, George B Worcester. 

Rowell, Benjamin W Boston. 

Savage, Minot J ."Boston. 

Work, Joseph W Boston. 

Richardson, Albert L. ..... . .Boston. 

Spring, Frederick H Boston. 

Richards, Eugene H Boston. 

Allen, George II Lynn. 

Livingston, William E Lowell. 

Cutting, Walter Pittsfield. 

Hersey, Freeman C Salem. 

Stickney, Horace W Boston. 

Young, James H Boston. 

Collamore, John H Boston. 

Emmons, Theodore H Boston. 

Kendrick, Edmund P Springfield. 

Welch, Albion F Danvers. 

Hubbard, Samuel F Boston. 

Temple, Thomas F Boston. 

Fitts, Edward A Haverhill. 

Pollard. Arthur G Lowell. 

Gates, Albert F. Worcester. 

nolton, Eugene A Boston. 

Kellough, Thomas East Boston. 

Plummer, Moses C... Boston. 

Holmes, Edwin B Boston. 

Nichols, Edward W. L Boston. 

Lawrence, William B Medford. 

Bowen, Seranus Roxbury. 

Raymond, John M Salem. 

Trefry, William D. T .Marblehead. 

Flanders, Dana J .Maiden. 

Bush, John S. F Boston. 

Gleason, James M Boston. 

Rhodes, George H Taunton. 

Thorndike, Samuel L Cambridge. 

Young, Charles F Lowell. 

Rhode Island. 

Chaffee, Albert H Worcester, Mass. 

Brayton, James B Newport. 



62 



FREEMASONRY 



Rhode Island. — Continued. 

Burt, Eugene D Providence. 

White, Stillman Providence. 

Earle, Joseph Providence. 

Underwood, William J Newport. 

Shepley, George L Providence. 

Field, Henry C Providence. 

White, Hunter C Providence. 

Husband, William E Providence. 

Eddy, Andrew B -.Providence. 

Newhall, Charles C Providence. 

Mumford, Charles C Providence. 

Vincent, Walter B Providence. 

Burnham, George H Providence. 

Studley, J. Edward Providence. 

Connecticut. 

Allen, Marcus C. Bridgeport. 

Parker, Henry L Norwich. 

Gould, James L Bridgeport. 

Baldwin, Nathan A Milford. 

Billings, Charles E Hartford. 

Skiff, Charles W Danbury. 

Kirker, James Norwich. 

Waldron, Frederick H New Haven. 

Seeley, William E Bridgeport. 

Bronson, Samuel M Hartford. 

Brewer, Arthur H Norwich. 

Bronson, Horatio G New Haven. 

Quintard, Eli S New Haven. 

Dutton, Alpheus D Bridgeport. 

Sevin, Nathan D Norwich. 

Knowlton, Julius W Bridgeport. 

Lines, H. Wales Meriden. 

Hubbard, Charles L Norwich. 

Root, John G Hartford. 

Woodward, Henry Middletown. 

Spencer, Frederick A Waterbury. 

Porter, George L Bridgeport. 

Chapman, Silas, Jr Hartford. 

Lippitt, Costello Norwich. 

New York. 

Woodham, Alfred Brooklyn. 

Jennings, Joseph J Brooklyn. 

Vining, Harrison S Brooklyn. 

Cole, Otis "Rochester. 

Anderson, John R Le Roy. 

Gardner, George J Syracuse. 

Stone, Seymour H Syracuse. 

Loomis, Edwin J Norwich. 

Williams, John D Elmira. 

Fleming, Walter M New York. 

Northrup, Aaron L New York. 

Sage, John L Rochester. 

Anthony, Jesse B Troy. 

Stiles, Benjamin F Skaneateles. 



Robinson, John C Binghamton. 

Bartlett, John S Buffalo. 

Cook, Abel G Syracuse. 

Ten Eyck, James Albany. 

■ Gilbert, George W New York. 

Telfair, Jacob R Staten Island. 

Ehlers, Edward M. L New York. 

Sage, William L Boston, Mass. 

Paterson, William S New York. 

Macomb, John N . .Lawrence, Kan. 

Peters, Augustus W New York. 

Russ, Herman H Albany. 

Torrey, Charles W Staten Island. 

Eakins, Joseph B New York. 

Heyzer, Charles H New York. 

Wood, Austin C Syracuse. 

Steele, Samuel C Rochester. 

Clark, Charles P Syracuse. 

Thacher, John Boyd Albany. 

Berry, Hiratn B. Warwick. 

Fuller, George W Corning. 

Pearce, Willard A New York. 

Simmons, J. Edward New York. 

Flagler, Benjamin Suspension Bridge. 

Brodie, William A Geneseo. 

Millar, George W New York. 

Lawless, William J New York. 

Becker, Albert, Jr Syracuse. 

Ely, Foster Ridgefield, Conn. 

Trask, Wayland Brooklyn. 

Ward, Charles S New York. 

Richardson, John W Brooklyn. 

Abel, Joseph P Brooklyn. 

Parker, Richard H Syracuse. 

Lawrence, Frank R New York. 

Plumb, Hiram W Syracuse. 

Ferguson, James F Central Valley. 

Fitch, William E Albany. 

McGown, George Palmyra. 

McDowell, Simon V Rochester. 

Thrall, Edwin A Brooklyn. 

Walker, Sidney F Brooklyn. . 

McGee, James Brooklyn. 

Clarke, George H Rochester. 

Hubbard, Warren C Rochester. 

Jones, Edward F Binghamton. 

Frisbie, Byron S Utica. 

Benson, Frederic A Binghamton. 

MacLellan, Daniel M. New York. 

Shafer, John F Menands, Albany. 

Lombard, Thomas R New York. 

Lorillard, Pierre New York. 

Knowles, Edwin Brooklyn. 

MacArthur, Arthur Troy. 

Story, William Albany. 

Affleck, Stephen D New York. 



FREEMASONRY 



63 



New York. — Continued. 

Griffith, Charles T New York. 

Moore, Thomas New York. 

Washburne, Edwin D New York. 

Lambert, J. Leavitt Hoosick Falls. 

Day, David F Buffalo. 

Sherer, William Brooklyn. 

Tallcott, Edwin C Syracuse. 

Hine, Omar A Canton . 

Wright Alfred G . . Rochester. 

White, William H New York. 

Van Buskirk, George W New York. 

Ellison, Saram R .New York. 

Duncan, William J .. . .New York. 

Burdge, D wight Brooklyn. 

Rowell, George A Brooklyn. 

Quantin, Edward H Brooklyn. 

Brown, Elon G Utica. 

Duncan, John H Syracuse. 

Sutherland, William A Rochester. 

Sturtevant, Stephen V West Troy. 

Crawford, Charles New York. 

Armatage, Charles H Albany. 

Goble, Frank B Rochester. 

Cushman, Charles W Buffalo. 

Edwards, Amos S Syracuse. 

Williams, Robert D Albany. 

Stewart, John New York. 

Wood, George New York. 

Matthews, William J New York. 

Stiles, Robert B Lansingburg. 

Hall, Edwin C Syracuse. 

Stone, Horace G Syracuse. 

Grummond, Fred W Binghamton. 

Moore, Joseph C Corning. 

Kendall, Hugh H Corning. 

Noble, Horace A Buffalo. 

Brothers, John L Buffalo. 

Brown, George L Buffalo. 

Titus, Robert C Buffalo. 

Newell, George A Medina. 

Vick, Frank H Rochester. 

Beatty, Claudius F . . New York. 

Sisson, John W New York. 

Stevens, T. Jefferson Brooklyn. 

Sloan, Augustus K Brooklyn. 

Weaver, William H Albany. 

Smith, J. Hungerford Rochester. 

Hatch, Edward W Buffalo. 

Woodward, Clarence L Syracuse. 

Delavan, Erastus C Binghamton. 

Pritchard, Truman S Corning. 

Lloyd, James H Troy. 

McKee, J. Frank : . .Gloversville. 

Bingham, Charles D Watertown. 

Greenwood, Marvin I Newark. 



Potter, Henry C New York. 

Dunwell, Charles T Brooklyn. 

Dumary, T. Henry Albany. 

Ward, Francis G Buffalo. 

Prescott, Joel H., Jr Buffalo. 

Anderson, John Binghamton. 

Johnson, David M Binghamton. 

Sisson, William W Binghamton. 

Hand, Walter M. .Binghamton. 

Sickels, Charles E Brooklyn 

Luscomb, Charles H Brooklyn. 

Demarest, William E New York. 

Barker, George T Brooklyn. 

Eaton, Calvin W Albany. 

Hayes, Charles E Buffalo. 

Newell, John T Ogdensburg. 

Curtis, Dexter D Elmira. 

Brooke, Thomas Rochester. 

Stowell, Henry Troy. 

Neiv Jersey. 

Edwards, George B Jersey City. 

Goodwin, William W Camden. 

Bechtel, Charles Trenton. 

Higginbotham, Marcus Jersey City. 

Scott, George Paterson. 

Borden, Jerome B Somerset, Mass. 

Steed, George W Camden. 

Mills, Edward Camden. 

Winfield, Albert D Paterson. 

Tice, Josiali New Brunswick. 

Smith, Stephen Jersey City. 

Watson, Thomas F Jersey City. 

Roome. Henry C Jersey City. 

Schoder, Anthony Woodbridge. 

Stevens. Albert C Paterson. 

Durand, James 11 Railway. 

Tillou, Edward L Elizabeth. 

Tilden, Thomas W Jersey City. 

Pennsylvania. 

Vallerchamp, John Harrisburg. 

Knapp, Christian F Bloomsburg. 

Lutz, Isaac D Harrisburg. 

Hunn, Townsend S New York. 

Earley, Charles R Ridgeway. 

Egle, William H Harrisburg. 

Muckle, Mark R Philadelphia. 

Patton, Thomas R Philadelphia. 

Sartain, John Philadelphia. 

Wyckoff, Edward S Philadelphia. 

Hopkins, James H Washington, D. C. 

Barber, James S Philadelphia. 

Carroll, DeWitt C Pittsburg. 

Garrigues, Franklin Philadelphia. 

Balmain, George P Pittsburg. 

Eichbaum, Joseph Pittsburg. 



64 



FREEMASONRY 



Pennsylvania. — Continued. 

Meredith, William B Kittanning. 

Clapp, John M Tidioute. 

Ly te, Eliphalet . . Millersville. 

Francis, Charles K Philadelphia. 

Cummings, Charles II Mauch Chunk. 

Shaffer, Vosburgh N Phoenix ville. 

Lyte, Joshua L Lancaster. 

Wray, Samuel W Philadelphia. 

Henderson, Matthias II New Castle. 

Slack, William H Allegheny City. 

Kerr, James, Jr Pittsburg. 

Arnold, John B Aurora, 111. 

Eaby, Joel S. Lancaster. 

Kennedy, Samuel B Erie. 

Thompson, Caleb C Warren. 

Smith, Lee S Pittsburg. 

Himrod, William. Erie. 

Cary, Charles v Philadelphia. 

Dunnell, Henry N Scranton. 

Kendrick, George W., Jr. . . .Philadelphia. 

Bates, Stockton Philadelphia. 

Sprenkel, Peter K Harrisburg. 

Holmes, Americus V Pittsburg. 

Kuhn, Henry H Somerset. 

McClees, Levi B German town, Phila. 

Steffe, Christian G Reading. 

Linden, Robert J Philadelphia. 

Wigley, Arthur B Pittsburg. 

Stevenson, David A Pittsburg. 

Barkey, Peter Erie. 

Hall, Amos H Philadelphia. 

Smith, Edgar E Philadelphia. 

Gilroy, John J Philadelphia. 

McKillip, Harvey A Bloomsburg. 

Williams, J. H Philadelphia. 

Johnstone, George C Allegheny. 

Sweigard, Isaac A Philadelphia. 

Boone, Edwin Reading. 

Brown, James W Pittsburg. 

Bishop, Alfred S Pittsburg. 

Hale, George Philadelphia. 

Ohio. 
Cunningham, William M. . . .Newark. 

Hoadley, George Cincinnati. 

Woodward, Charles A Cleveland. 

Keifer, Charles C Urbana. 

Totten, James S Lebanon. 

Ross, Apollos M Cincinnati. , 

Huston, Alexander B Cincinnati. 

Urner, Henry C Cincinnati. 

Mack, Max J Cincinnati. 

Parsons, J. B Cleveland. 

Sickels, Sheldon Cleveland. 

Collins, Charles A Akron. 



Buechner, William L Youngstown. 

Gordon, Theodore P Columbus. 

Nembach, Andrew Cincinnati. 

Sage, George R Cincinnati. 

Whitaker, Ephraim S Garretsville. 

Fasold, Eli Dayton. 

Caldwell, John D Cincinnati. 

Patton, Alexander G Columbus. 

Houck, Martin J Dayton. 

Chamberlin, John W Tiffin. 

Vance, Alexander F., Jr Urbana. 

Ilampson, Robert V Salem. 

Halladay, Calvin Lima. 

Goodspeed, Joseph McK Athens. 

Melish, William B Cincinnati. 

Briggs, Sam Cleveland. 

Winegarner, David C Newark. 

Shepard, William Columbus. 

Cutler, Eben J Cleveland. 

Page, Edward D Cleveland. 

Gwynn, Robert Cincinnati. 

Pelton, Frederick W Cleveland. 

Akers, William J Cleveland. 

King, David L Akron. 

Brown, Huntington Mansfield. 

Moore, Sidney Delaware. 

Dunn, Joseph H Columbus. 

Harris, John T Columbus. 

Chamberlain, Charles W Dayton. 

Matthews, Edward W Cambridge. 

Armstrong, Clarence E Toledo. 

Stipp, Joseph A Toledo. 

Flach, Charles H Cincinnati. 

Michie, William Cincinnati. 

Tucker, Charles H Cleveland. 

Williams, Samuel S Newark. 

Hays, Otho L Galion. 

Parsons, John W Springfield. 

Jeffers, Allen Dayton. 

Senter, Orestes A. B Columbus.' 

Collins, James A Cincinnati. 

Morse, Fred A Cleveland. 

Lyttle, La Fayette Toledo. 

Bell, John N Dayton. 

Goodale, Levi C Cincinnati. 

Lemmon, Reuben C Toledo. 

Avery, William R Cincinnati. 

Rickley, R. R Columbus. 

Spencer, Joseph M. Toledo. 

Walden, John M Cincinnati. 

Morris, Evan Girrard. 

Melish, Thomas J Cincinnati. 

Andrews, Allen Hamilton. 

Baldwin, Charles F Mt. Vernon. 

Burdick, Leander Toledo. 

Sands, Stephen P Cincinnati. 



FREEMASONRY 



65 



Ohio. — Continued. 

Perkins, Henry Akron. 

Cotterall, Joseph W. , Jr Cincinnati. 

Buchwalter, Morris L Cincinnati. 

Butler, Charles R Cleveland. 

Squire, Andrew Cleveland. 

Mcintosh, Henry P Cleveland. 

Blyth, John Bucyrus. 

Boone, William K Lima. 

Schaus, Lewis P Newark. 

Pfamin, Herman C Cincinnati. 

Irvin, Horace A Dayton. 

Jackson, Mervin .Toledo. 

Stull, John M "Warren. 

Bromwell, Jacob H Cincinnati. 

Kennedy, Henry A Canton. 

Sater, John E Columbus. 

McCune, John P Columbus. 

King, Edmund B Sandusky. 

Johnston, J. Russell Dayton. 

Bushnell, Asa S Springfield. 

Lewis, Charles T Toledo. 

Bates, William L Dayton. 

Kite, Thomas Cincinnati. 

Michigan. 

Brown, Charles H Grand Rapids. 

Tabor, Augustus B Detroit. 

Kellogg, Andrew J Detroit. 

Bury, Richard A Adrian. 

Hills, Charles T Muskegon. 

Shipman, Ozias W Detroit. 

Fox, Perrin V Grand Rapids. 

Haxton, Benjamin F Detroit. 

Thorp, Darius D Detroit. 

Baxter, William n Detroit. 

Striker, Daniel Hastings. 

Henderson. Frank Kalamazoo. 

Pomeroy, Charles H East Saginaw. 

Swartout, Richard D Grand Rapids. 

Corliss, John B Detroit. 

Coulson, Nicholas Detroit. 

Chamberlain, M. Howard. . . .Detroit. 

Gilbert, Frank Bay City. 

Moore. Francis M Marquette. 

Sharp, Edgar M Bay City. 

Maybury. William C Detroit. 

Steere, Joseph H Sault Ste. Marie. 

Emery, Temple East Tawas. 

Dunham, William Grand Rapids. 

Ellis, Waring H Detroit. 

Conover, Jefferson H Coldwater. 

Hudson, William G Ludington. 

Wheeler, Edward D Manistee. 

Palmer, Thomas W Detroit, 

Stephenson, Samuel M Menominee. 

5 



Davis, James E Detroit. 

Livingstone, William, Jr Detroit. 

Findlater, James Detroit. 

Smith, George D Muskegon. 

Fifield, Eugene Bay City. 

May worm, Joseph Detroit. 

Fowle, George W Detroit. 

Meigs, Alfred E Detroit. 

Bolton, Henry Alpena. 

Duncan, John Calumet. 

Gerow, John A Detroit. 

Williams, Thomas H Jackson. 

Stiles, Albert Jackson. 

McGee, Michael B Crystal Falls. 

Munroe, Thomas Muskegon. 

Winsor, Lou B Reed City. 

Montross, Richard W Galien. 

Jewett, William E Adrian. 

Heald, Charles M Grand Rapids. 

Harris, L. D Grand Rapids. 

Osborn, James W T Kalamazoo. 

Indiana. 

Hess, James W Indianapolis. 

Fish, George H New York City. 

Bonsall, Nathaniel F New Albany. 

Thayer, Henry G Plymouth. 

Davis, Gilbert W Indianapolis. 

Rice, Martin II Indianapolis. 

Douglas, Sydney W Evansville. 

Smith, Jacob W Indianapolis. 

Vail. Walter Michigan City. 

Butler, John L Vincennes. 

Robie, William J Richmond. 

Brown, Austin II Indianapolis. 

Elliott, Byron K Indianapolis. 

Brush, John T Indianapolis. 

Adams, Henry C Indianapolis. 

McKinley, Thomas S Terre Haute. 

Sweet, Samuel B Fort Wayne. 

Smythe, William II Indianapolis. 

Cole, Cyrill B Seymour. 

Croft, John W Terre Haute. 

Smith, Joseph L Richmond. 

Safford, James B Crafton, Pa. 

Hawkins, Roscoe Indianapolis. 

Nye, Mortimer La Porte. 

Long, Thomas B Terre Haute. 

Mover, Henry A Kendallville. 

Manning, Joseph A Michigan City. 

Pixley, George W Fort Wayne. 

Geake. William Fort Wayne. 

Farrington, George E Terre Haute. 

Leighty, Jacob D St. Joe. 

Hutchinson, Charles L Indianapolis. 

White, Ahira R Indianapolis. 



FREEMASONRY 



Indiana. — Continued. 

McKee, William J Indianapolis. 

Niblack, Mason J Vincennes. 

Butler, Mahlon D Indianapolis. 

Lancaster, Henry H Lafayette. 

Schmidt, W. H Indianapolis. 

Sloan, George White Indianapolis. 

Holliday, J. H Indianapolis. 

Elliott, Nathan Kelley Terre Haute. 

Coulter, James P Aurora. 

Bass, John H Fort Wayne. 

Wood, Julius C Muncie. 

Nichols, Alonzo S Michigan City. 

Gillett, Simeon P Evansville. 

Mordhurst, H. W Fort Wayne. 

Marshall, Thomas R Columbia City. 

Illinois. 

Turner, William H Chicago. 

Ranney, Henry C. . . f Chicago. 

Gale, William H Chicago. 

Patrick, Benjamin F Boston, Mass. t 

Munn, Loyal L Freeport. 

Myers, Eugene B Chicago. 

Egan, Wiley M Chicago. 

Pardy, Warren G .Chicago. 

Getty, Henry H Chicago. 

Pond, Henry H Chicago. 

Cregier, DeWitt C Chicago. 

Skinkle, Jacob W Chicago. 

O'Neil, John Chicago. 

Brad well, James B Chicago. 

Clarke, Haswell C Kankakee. 

McLaren, John Chicago. 

Russell, Alfred Chicago. 

Church, James E Chicago. 

Bannister, James. Peoria. 

Johnson, Robert M Chicago. 

Poulson, William E Chicago. 

Pace, Edward Coleman Ashley. 

Pearson, John Mills Godfrey. 

Hitchcock, Charles Freeman. .Peoria. 

Miller, De Laskie Chicago. 

Milligan, William Lee Roy. . .Ottawa. 

Moulton, George M .Chicago. 

Bliss, Eliakim R Chicago. 

Edwards, Isaac C Peoria. 

Warvelle, George W Chicago. 

Herrick, Charles K .Chicago. 

Gunther, Charles F Chicago. 

Mulliner, Edward S Quincy. 

Stoskopf, Michael Freeport. 

Stoker, Eugene Le C Centralia. 

Spies, Joseph Chicago. 

Curtis, George W Peoria. 

McLean, Alexander Macomb. 

Luce, Frank M '. . . Chicago. 



McLellan, Archibald Chicago. 

Works, Charles A Rockford. 

Walshe, Robert J Chicago. 

Lorimer, George C Boston, Mass. 

Wiltse, Hiram L Chicago. 

Spring, Sylvester Peoria. 

Smith, Robert A Chicago. 

May, John A Chicago. 

Norton, John E .Chicago. 

Blocki, William F Chicago. 

Knight, William M Chicago. 

McFatrich, James B Chicago. 

Drake, Chester T Chicago. 

Goddard, Leroy A Chicago. 

Rhodes, Henry L Centralia. 

Rankin, Charles S Chicago. 

Roundy, Frank C Chicago. 

Ramsay, Frederic M Chicago. 

Montgomery, Isaac S Rockford. 

Haskins, Seth F Peoria. 

Wisconsin. 

Youngs, Melvin L Milwaukee. 

Palmer, William T Milwaukee. 

Greeley, Samuel F Chicago, 111. 

Wilkinson, Francis M Milwaukee. 

Haislei-j Michael J Milwaukee. 

Suessmilch, Frederick L. von Delavan. 

Rogers, Charles D Milwaukee. 

Bracken, Henry S Milwaukee. 

Benzenberg, George H Milwaukee. 

Brazier, William H Milwaukee. 

Libbey, Oliver Green Bay. 

Crosby, Francis J Milwaukee. 

Watrous, Jerome A Milwaukee. 

Cole, Sidney H Milwaukee. 

Stark, Edwards J Milwaukee. 

Jackson, E. Gilbert Oshkosh. 

Fifield, Samuel S Ashland. 

Bingham, Joel W Milwaukee. 

Storke, Eugene F Milwaukee. 

Laflin, John W Milwaukee. 

Golley, Frank B Milwaukee. 

Miller, Daniel McL Oconomowoc. 

Caufy, Luther L Milwaukee. 

Daniels, Norman C Milwaukee. 

Leuzarder, Benjamin T Milwaukee. 

Wagner, Adolph H Milwaukee. 

Hooley, George T Milwaukee. 

Wechselberg, Julius Milwaukee. 

Littlejohn, Newton M Whitewater. 

Whitney, LeRoy C Milwaukee. 

Kenny, William P Milwaukee. 

Non-resident Honorary Members. 

Wadsworth, James C. L San Francisco, Cal. 

Filmer, William San Francisco, Cal. 

Stevens, Enoch B Southport, N. C. 



FREEMASONRY" AMONG THE CHINESE 



67 



Millard, Alden C Independence, Mo. 

Wheeler, Frederick A Baltimore, Md. 

Brown, Edward H Grass Valley, Cal. 

Richardson, Lloyd D Hot Springs, Ark. 

Concordant Orders. 

Royal Order of Scotland. Provincial Grand 
Lodge, U. S. A., W. Oscar Roome, Washington, 
D. C. 

Knights of the Red Cross of Constantine. Chap- 
ter General, U. S. A. ; Secretary General, Chas. K. 
Francis, 425 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa. 

Knights of the Red Cross Of Rome and Constan- 
tine, Sovereign Grand Council ; Registrar General, 
Thomas Leahy, Rochester, N. Y. 

Non-Masonic Bodies to which only Freemasons 
are Eligible. 

Modern Society of Rosicrucians. Thomas J. 
Shryock, Treasurer General, Baltimore, Md. 

Ancient Arabic Order of Xobles of the Mystic 
Shrine. Imperial Recorder, Benj. W. Rowell, 28 
School Street, Boston, Mass. 

Sovereign College Allied Masonic Degrees. Grand 
Recorder General, Charles A. Nesbitt, Richmond, Va. 

Mystic Order, Veiled Prophets of the Enchanted 
Realm. Grand Secretary, Sydney D. Smith, Ham- 
ilton, X. Y. 

Independent International Order of (hols. Ad- 
dress John M. Sears, Nashville, Tenn. 

Irregular or Spurious Masonic Bodies. 

Various Grand and Subordinate Lodges. " An- 
cient and Honorable Order, Free and Accepted 
Masons" '; Grand and Subordinate Chapters of 
Royal Arch Masons, and Grand and Subordinate 
Encampments of Knights Templars. (See Free- 
masonry among Negroes.) Enoch R. Spaulding, 
Most Worshipful Grand Master, Oswego, N. Y. ; 
Edward B. Irving, Past Grand Master of the 
Grand Lodge of the State of New York, and John 
H. Deyo, Grand Secretary, Albany. 

Supreme Council, A. A. S. R., "Northern Juris- 
diction," U. S. A. (Negro). S. C. Scottron, Grand 
Commander, Brooklyn, N.'Y. 

Supreme Council, A. A. S. R., for the U. S. A., 
its Territories and Dependencies (Seymour- Cerneau 
rite). Charles II. Benson, Grand Commander, 
Jersey City, X. J. 

Supreme Council, A.A.S.R., U. S. A., its Ter- 
ritories and Dependencies (Thompson-Cerneau). J. 
G. Barker, Grand Secretary General, 63 Bleecker 
Street, New York. 

Supreme Council, A. A. 8. R., U. S. A., Southern 
and Western Jurisdiction (Negro). Thornton A. 
Jackson, Grand Commander, Washington, D. C. 



Supreme Council, A. A. S. R., U. S. A., North- 
western Jurisdiction (Negro). M. F. Fields, Grand 
Commander, St. Louis, Mo. 

Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic 
Shrine of North and South America (Negro). Ad- 
dress Robert Hucless, New York ; John G. Jones, 
Chicago. 

" Freeiiiasonry " among tlie Chinese. 

— There is no such thing as Freemasonry 
among the Chinese, although there are Chi- 
nese secret societies in the United States 
which have been described as organizations 
of Chinese " Freemasons." This is because 
the word Freemasonry has been associated so 
many years in the minds of the public with 
a particular secret society that it has become 
almost generic or descriptive of all things 
regarded as similar. Many terms and 
phrases have crept out of Masonic Lodges 
and into the American vernacular, of which 
" On the square," "A square man," and 
" On the level," are perhaps the best illus- 
trations. Even the word Freemasonry itself 
has acquired a specialized meaning, and is 
frequently used to characterize associations 
which are secret, members of which have 
private means of making themselves known 
to each other, and to explain why those 
engaged in a similar work or profession, or 
those having like training or sympathetic 
temperaments, are so quick to recognize the 
fact. Thus it is that whether referring to a 
Russian, Hottentot, or Arabic secret society 
one finds the average essayist describing them 
as Masonic. There are Masonic Lodges in 
China, but they work under foreign war- 
rants, and are made up almost exclusively, 
if not entirely, of others than Chinese. 
There is, however, a shadow of an excuse 
for referring to some Chinese secret societies 
as Chinese "Freemasonry," owing to the 
striking resemblances between their rites 
and ceremonies and those of the Freema- 
sons. This is the more remarkable when 
one recalls the antiquity of both, and the 
lack of opportunity for either to have pat- 
terned after the other. The Chinese Em- 
pire is honeycombed with secret societies, 
nearly all of which are revolutionary, hav- 



68 



FREEMASONRY " AMONG THE CHINESE 



irig in view the downfall of the T'sing dyn- 
asty, a most efficient incentive to secrecy. 
There is generally present a nominally ben- 
evolent or philanthropic object, veiling the 
political ends of these organizations, the 
names of the best known of which are the 
Hung League, from which came the Kolao 
Hui, the White Lily, or White Lotus, or 
"Do Nothing" Association; the Society of 
Heaven, Earth, and Man ; the Triad Soci- 
ety ; the Yellow Caps ; and the Golden Lily 
Hui, which are arranged in military form 
under four flags, whence they have come to 
be known as the " White Flags, " " Black 
Flags," " Eed Flags," and " Yellow Flags. " 
It was due to the action of the Hung League 
that the Mongol dynasty of G-enjhiz Khan 
was overthrown, and without British aid the 
present or Manchu dynasty would probably 
have come to an end at the time of the strug- 
gle with the T'ai Pings. The most power- 
ful of these societies is the Kolao Hui, which 
numbers more than 1,000,000 members, as 
related by a writer in " Blackwood's Maga- 
zine " in 1896, recruited from the dregs of 
society, " time expired soldiers," unem- 
ployed laboring people, and professional 
thieves. This accounts for the disorder, 
crime, and violence for which it is noted. 
The sect known as the Vegetarians, with 
rites and ceremonies showing traces of 
" some early and debased form of Christian- 
ity," is responsible for several massacres of 
Christian missionaries. It was after being 
hard pressed by the authorities that it en- 
deavored to sink its identity under the name 
of the "Do-Nothing Party." The Kolao 
Hui is governed by three chiefs, and mock- 
ingly inscribes the words "Faith" and 
" Eighteousness " upon its banners. The 
religious claims of this and like societies 
have induced the Chinese Government from 
time to time to proscribe as dangerous or- 
ganizations all religious sects (except Con- 
fucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism), notably 
the Roman Catholics, by the Emperor Yung 
Ch'eng. 
Lodges of the Hung League and of its 



offspring, the Kolao Hui, meet in remote 
and heavily wooded mountain districts. On 
entering, members proceed to the first, or 
Heaven-screen Pass, next to the Earth-net, 
and thence to the Sun-moon Pass, after 
which they cross a bridge to the Hall of 
Fidelity and Loyalty, to the shrines of the 
five ancestors, on the right a council room 
and on the left a court. This account, con- 
densed from the one "discovered by Pro- 
fessor Schlegel," adds that from the court 
extends a long road, between mountain and 
sea, leading to the Moss Pass, or Pavilion of 
the Black Eiver, and thirteen Chinese miles 
farther is the Golden Sparrow frontier, 
where there are four buildings, the last of 
which is " the Lodge," or " city of willows. " 
Eecruits, sometimes secured under threats 
to kill for refusal to join the society, are 
received into the Lodge by "passing the 
bridge," marching under an arch, or bridge, 
formed by the swords of the brethren, when 
they are addressed as to the objects of the 
association and listen to a lengthy catechism, 
in which they are supposed to make the re- 
plies. The questions and answers are sig- 
nificant of the aims of the society, abpund- 
ing in acrostics and Kabbalistic meanings 
which are employed, as passwords. The 
candidates wash their faces, and after being 
divested of their ordinary clothing are at- 
tired in white robes. Then follows a long 
oath, in which are invoked Father Heaven, 
Mother Earth, the three lights — sun, moon, 
and stars — the gods, saints, genii, Buddhas, 
and all the star princes, to keep' and per- 
form which the candidates bind themselves 
under a series of "dire pains and penal- 
ties." The oath is confirmed by drinking 
tea and wine from a bowl in which are 
mixed a few drops of blood pricked from 
the middle fingers of the candidates. The 
oath is registered by burning a copy of it 
that the smoke may ascend to the gods as 
testimony. Each newly-made member re- 
ceives a cryptographical certificate of mem- 
bership which is held to possess talismanic 
powers, and is enjoined to "learn the secret 



FREEMASONRY" AMONG THE CHINESE 



69 



signs and mystic sayings by which the breth- 
ren are known to one another — how to lift 
his tea-cup with three fingers, place his feet 
in certain positions, how to wind his hand- 
kerchief round the end of his umbrella, to 
ask and answer mysterious catch questions, 
to speak of the government as "the en- 
emy," of government soldiers as " a storm," 
of men as "horses," and of other common 
objects in Hui slang. The Triad Society 
claims to be the oldest existing Chinese 
secret organization, dating " back to 1664 
a.d." It was the cause of the T'ai Ping 
rebellion, which was suppressed by Li Hung 
Chang aided by "Chinese" Gordon. Its 
secret ceremonies are similar to those of the 
Hung League, and among the penalties for 
treason, one is to have the ears lopped off, 
and another the head cut off. Members al- 
ways halt on entering a house, and then 
proceed with the left foot first. When sit- 
ting, they place their toes together and spread 
their heels apart. They also recognize one 
another by the way they place their tea- 
cups on the table and the manner in which 
they hitch their trousers. Their motto is, 
"Drive out the Tartar." The "Black- 
wood" article on "Secret Societies in 
China," reprinted in the St. Louis "Globe 
Democrat," January 17, 1897, says further: 

It is impossible to study these rites and cere- 
monies without recognizing a strong resemblance 
between them and some of those of the Freemasons. 
" The Bridge of Swords " is common to both socie- 
ties, as are also the formation of Lodges and their 
Orientation. In both societies the members are 
entitled brothers, and confirm their oath with 
blood. During the ceremony of affiliation the 
recruits, both among the Freemasons and the Hung 
League, attire themselves in white garments and go 
through the form of purification by washing. In 
the Chinese Lodges the triangle is a favorite emblem, 
and lamps, steelyards, and scales form part of the 
ordinary paraphernalia. It is curious to observe, 
also, that the three degrees of Apprentice, Fellow- 
craft, and Master among the Freemasons find their 
analogues in the Sworn-Brother, Adopted-Brother, 
and Righteous Uncle in use in the Chinese Society. 

With the foregoing outline of secret soci- 
eties in China, it becomes easier to arrive at 



an intelligible idea of secret societies of Chi- 
nese in the United States, members of which 
have been referred to as Chinese Freema- 
sons. An Associated Press despatch from 
San Francisco, November 14, 1894, read in 
part as follows: 

The police have obtained evidence of the exis- 
tence of a lawless and strongly organized band of 
Chinese Highbinders, said to be 3,000 in number, 
in this city. This society is not only an organiza- 
tion of blackmailers, murderers, and thieves, but 
also has for its purpose the overthrow of the present 
Tartar dynasty. 

This suggests what is well known to many 
on the Pacific Coast, that whether the High- 
binders, as they are called, are members of 
the Kolao Hui or of the Triad Societies or 
not, they are graduates of the same school, 
and many members of the Triad Society and 
Kolao Hui are evidently associated with the 
Highbinders. The different associations of 
the latter are known as Tongs, and it is said 
that some reputable Chinese belong to them 
in order to secure protection from " levie.^ * 
by rival Tongs. Business disputes and je 
ousylead to fights between Tongs, in whi 
blued (never nickeled) 44-caliber Colt 
volvers, carried in the ample sleeves of the 
Highbinders, are the almost universal weap- 
ons. Evidence to convict those guilty of 
assaults or murder is not easy to obtain, 
when cases do get into the courts, perjury 
is the rule and difficult to detect. One of 
the bitterest feuds between these organiza- 
tions in San Francisco is that which ha8 
raged for years between the Sney Sing T< 
and the Suey on Tong, causing much bio 
shed and work for the courts. 

The Spokane "Review," August 
1897, outlined an imitation ceremony at a 
Chinese " Masonic " Lodge in that city, at 
which it was said four white men, Free- 
masons, were present by invitation. The 
ceremonies seemed to parallel those of the 
Hung League and Kolao Hui, already re- 
ferred to, from which it may be inferred the 
Spokane Chinese Lodge represents a benevo- 
lent branch of the Kolao Hui, of which less 



70 



FREEMASONRY AMONG THE MORMONS 



is heard in China than of the main or revo- 
lutionary and violent section of that society. 
There were references to "the immortal 
three," circumambulation, four stations at 
which questions were asked and answers 
returned, kneeling on crossed swords, tea- 
drinking, burning incense, a " traditional " 
season of refreshment, and signs in which 
the head and hands were used ; yet the " oc- 
cidental Masons present were unable to de- 
tect anything that resembled the Masonry 
with which they were familiar." 

Chinese secret societies in the United 
States originated in one or more of those in 
China, and are found at almost all Ameri- 
can centres of population where there are a 
considerable number of Chinese, more par- 
ticularly at New York city and at cities on 
the Pacific Coast. Nearly all of them east 
of the Eocky Mountains are rather more 
reputable than the Tongs of San Francisco, 
but none of them is Masonic in character or 
has any affiliation with Masonic bodies. 

Freemasonry among- the Mormons. — 
Whether the so-called twelve Mormon apos- 
tles were Freemasons or not, and whether 
or not the Mormon hierarchy utilized vari- 
ous Masonic forms in their endowment 
house ceremonies at Salt Lake City, have 
long been matters of controversy; but the 
following extracts from replies to letters of 
inquiry on these points leave them no longer 
in doubt. 

From Christopher Diehl, Salt Lake City, 
Utah, .Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge, 
A. F. and A. M., of Utah, May 4, 1896: 

I have been a resident of this city since 1866, and 
a Mason since 1868. ... In the early days 
much was said about Mormon Masonry in Nauvoo 
(Illinois), but whether there was any such thing, I 
could never tell. We never admitted Mormons to 
our Lodges in those days. ... It was, however, 
reported that there were Masons among them, more 
especially B. Young, who was then alive, and I 
doubt not he was, but could not swear to it. . . . 
In the early days I made a study of Mormon Ma- 
sonry, and wrote considerably about it in my reports 
on correspondence, because the stand of Utah Ma- 
sons was attacked for refusing Mormons admission 
to our Lodges. 



From J. H. C. Dill, Bloomington, Illi- 
nois, Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge, 
F. and A. M., of Illinois, May 11, 1896 : 

I have no way of telling whether or not any of 
the twelve Mormon apostles were members of the 
(Masonic) Lodge at Nauvoo. Possibly returns were 
made, but this office has twice been burned out, 
and all records destroyed. I can give the names 
and addresses of two old and prominent Masons 
who know a great deal about the Mormon troubles, 
and were present when ' ' old Joe Smith " was killed : 
B. Mendenhall, Dallas City, and William R. Hamil- 
ton, Carthage, 111. 

From Theodore S. Parvin, Cedar Rapids, 
Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge, F. and 
A. M., of Iowa, May 6, 1896 : 

I personally and officially know that the Mormons 
had a (Masonic) Lodge at Nauvoo (Illinois) in the 
years 1840 to the period they removed from Illinois 
to Kanesville, Council Bluffs, la., and later to Salt 
Lake City. I know, further, that the Grand Lodge 
of Illinois revoked the charter of that Lodge, but 
the Mormons refused to surrender it . . ■ . and 
took it with them, and worked a Lodge in Salt Lake 
City under that charter. I know very well, also, 
from attendance upon the Grand Lodge, that it was 
distinctly stated then and there . . . that Jo- 
seph Smith was a Mason ; and I have no doubt, also, 
that Brigham Young was a member of the same 
Lodge. 

From William E. Hamilton, Past Master 
of Hancock Lodge, No. 20, F. and A. M., 
Carthage, 111., May 26, 1896 : 

At the time of the Mormon era in this county I 
was but a boy of eleven years, and could only know 
about Masonry by hearing men that I knew to be 
Masons talk about it. It was claimed and believed 
that spurious Masons were being made (at Nauvoo) 
about 1842-43, and the Lodge at this place ceased to 
work on that account. . . . Brother Edmunds 
resided at Nauvoo for many years, . . . and, in 
all probability, is the only man in this county who 
was a Mason at that time. 

From G. Edmunds, attorney, Carthage, 
111., to W. E. Hamilton of the same place, 
May 25, 1896 : 

The charter of what was known as the Mormon 
Masonic Lodge at Nauvoo had been surrendered 
before I settled there, in 1845, and I only know 
from hearsay and talk with members of that Lodge, 
who afterwards became members of Reclamation 
Lodge, No. 54 (where I was made a Mason), who 



FREEMASONRY AMONG THE MORMONS 



71 



were members of the original Lodge at Nauvoo. 
Dr. John F. Weld, a member of Reclamation 
Lodge, No. 54, informed me he was a member of the 
original Nauvoo Lodge ; also that Brigham Young, 
Orson Hyde, Wilf ord Woodruff, Heber C. Kimball, 
William Smith, and others of the "Twelve 
Apostles " were members of the said original 
(Nauvoo) Masonic Lodge, as were also Joseph the 
prophet, and Hiram Smith, his brother. There 
was no connection between the Mormon endow- 
ment house and Masonry, none whatever. 

Contributed by B. Mendenhall, Dallas 
City, 111. (District Deputy Grand Master of 
the Grand Lodge, ~F. and A. M., of Illinois 
in 1882), May 22, 1896 : 

In the year 1839-40 the Mormons began to 
gather at Nauvoo, 111., and build a town, or, as 
they religiously called it, the "Zion." Among so 
large a number of men from all parts of the world, 
there were some who were Freemasons, and natur- 
ally they conceived the idea of instituting a Lodge 
at Nauvoo. Accordingly, they applied to the 
Grand Master for a dispensation to form and work 
a Lodge to be called Nauvoo Lodge, TJ. D. On the 
15th day of October, 1841, a petition signed by 
the requisite number of Master Masons at Nauvoo 
was sent to Grand Master A. Jonas, residing at 
Quincy, for a dispensation to form a lodge at 
Nauvoo. The prayer of the petition was granted, 
and the dispensation was duly forwarded to the 
brethren. They went to work during the winter 
following and did a wholesale business. In Octo- 
ber, 1842, when the Grand Lodge met, the Commit- 
tee on Lodges, L T . D., reported that the returns of 
Nauvoo Lodge were not as required, but it was 
thought best to continue the dispensation for an- 
other year. At the meeting of the Grand Lodge 
in 1843, the committee found many complaints 
against the Lodge at Nauvoo. As no returns had 
been sent in, the Grand Master sent a committee to- 
Nauvoo to examine into the work and doings of the 
Lodge. Grand Master Meradith Helm was ex officio 
chairman of the committee, and went to Nauvoo 
and attempted to make an investigation, but both 
he and the committee were treated with contempt 
by the Mormons and their leaders. Why the 
Grand Master did not take the dispensation away 
with him has been a matter of comment ever since. 
When the Grand Lodge met in October, 1844, it ex- 
pelled all the members of Nauvoo Lodge, declared 
the Lodge irregular and clandestine, and annulled 
the dispensation. No charter was ever granted 
them. Some of the irregularities were in voting 
on eight or ten candidates at one ballot, holding 
clandestine meetings, and . initiating candidates 



who were notorious outlaws or men of bad repute. 
After expulsion the Nauvoo Lodge continued to 
hold clandestine meetings and to make innovations 
to conform to Mormon teachings. 

When the Temple was mostly finished at Nauvoo, 
the Mormons instituted the endowment ceremonies 
ancLincorporated therein some of the ritual of Ma- 
sonry. To-day, at Salt Lake City, they still prac- 
tise these ceremonies. A visitor to the old town 
of Nauvoo to-day will see a three-story brick build- 
ing standing on the low land adjoining the shores 
of the Mississippi River. It is a quaint, old-style 
building, with the gable end to the east and a rep- 
resentation of the All-Seeing Eye painted on the 
eastern end. The foundation, which is of stone, is 
graced by a square-cut stone, about three feet each 
way, in which is cut. in well-defined letters, the 
words, " Grand Master A. Helm, 1843." It is at 
the northeast corner. The building, which was 
always known as the Masonic Temple, is fast falling 
into ruins. 

The witnesses to the "Book of Mormon" were 
three, to-wit : P. P. Pratt, or Parley P. Pratt, an 
Englishman by birth, and one of the twelve ; 
Martin Harris, afterwards an apostate, and Oliver 
Cowdery, also one of the twelve. The first or 
original twelve apostles of the Mormon Church 
were: Sidney Rigden, who was president; Parley 
P. Pratt, Oliver Cowdery, Orson Hyde, John Tay- 
lor, William Richards, Amasa Lyman, Daniel 
Wells, Hyrum Smith, William Smith, Brigham 
Young, Orson Pratt, and David A. Wyman. After 
the death of Joe Smith the prophet, Brigham 
Young succeeded as Chief of the Twelve Apostles, 
and finally to the head of the Church at Salt Lake 
City. All the leaders of the Mormon Church were 
Masons, that is, according to their own peculiar 
view-, which, of course, meant under the control 
and direction of the Mormon Church. It seems 
that Masonry was not to flourish in Nauvoo, for 
when another Lodge was chartered by our Grand 
Lodge, in 1848, founded on the ruins of the 
Nauvoo Lodge, Reclamation, No. 54, although 
appearing prosperous at first, and doing a fair 
amount of work, yet the reputation and associations 
of the first Nauvoo Lodge clung to it ; and the 
writer hereof, in the year 1882. being then Deputy 
Grand Master of the district, was ordered by the 
Grand Master to take up its charter for unmasonie 
conduct. That was done, and there has been no 
Masonic Lodge at Nauvoo since. The Grand Lodge 
of Utah of A. F. and A. M. never would admit 
Mormons to membership in any of the Lodges in its 
territory. 

Eevelations of the inner religious cere- 
monial life of the Mormons, published 



72 



FREEMASONRY AMONG NEGROES 



years ago, stated that the Mormon leaders 
were violently anti-Mason in their preach- 
ings and teachings prior to their hegira from 
New York State, which may be explained 
by the fact that the sect was founded not 
only during the period of anti-Masonic 
excitement, but iff the yery region from 
which Morgan, the apostate Freemason, 
disappeared. When the Mormons went 
West, it is singular, but perhaps not signifi- 
cant, that Morgan's wife (widow?) went with 
them; and in an interview between the first 
wife of Orson Pratt and Kate Fields, pub- 
lished in the St. Louis " Globe Democrat," 
December 4, 1892, Mrs. Pratt tells of the 
presence at Nauvoo, 111., 1840-46, of the 
widow of Morgan, where she had married a 
Mormon. From what has been made pub- 
lic concerning Mormon endowment house 
ceremonies by such apostate Mormons as 
Mrs. Pratt, and others, there would appear 
to be no Freemasonry in them. Those who 
invented them drew heavily on " Paradise 
Lost" and the Old Testament for a ritual, 
and, by paralleling certain forms and situa- 
tions in Craft Masonry, succeeded in con- 
structing what proved to most of their 
followers to be an impressive, if not in- 
spired, ceremonial. 

Freemasonry among Negroes. — 
Among more than 1,300,000 affiliated and 
unaffiliated white Freemasons in the United 
States, comparatively few have familiarized 
themselves with the details of the history 
of the Fraternity, and to such it will prove 
in the nature of a surprise to learn that there 
are probably 60,000 negro Freemasons in 
the country, whose Freemasonry comes from 
the same source as their own, the Grand 
Lodge of England. The average white 
Freemason knows there are so-called negro 
Freemasons, but has generally regarded 
their Freemasonry as a spurious variety, 
and the possessors, at best, as clandestine. 
As to the first inference he is mistaken, and 
as to the second he might substitute the 
word irregular. Early in 1775 Prince Hall, 
an educated negro, twenty-seven years of 



age, was made a Freemason at Boston, in an 
English army Lodge connected with Gen- 
eral Gage's command, and on March 6th, 
the same year, fourteen other Boston negroes 
were made Freemasons in the same Lodge, 
at Castle William, Boston Harbor, now Fort 
Independence. Each is declared to have 
paid a fee of twenty-five guineas for the 
three degrees. The motive of the members 
of the army Lodge in initiating, passing, 
and raising these fifteen negroes may best 
be conjectured. If it was to secure the 
cooperation of negroes in the prospective 
struggle with the colonists, it failed so far as 
Prince Hall is concerned; for the latter sided 
with the colonists, shouldered a musket, and 
remained a useful and prominent citizen of 
Massachusetts until his death in 1807. 

At the annual session of the (white) 
Grand Lodge of Freemasons of Ohio, in 
1875, the following conclusions were re- 
ported by a committee of eminent members 
(among them Enoch T. Carson) on that 
portion of the address of the Grand Master 
which referred to "colored Masonry": 

Your Committee deem it sufficient to say that they 
are satisfied beyond all question that colored Free- 
masonry had a legitimate beginning in this coun- 
try, as much so as any other Freemasonry ; in fact, 
it came from the same source. 

Your Committee have the most satisfactory and 
conclusive evidence that these colored Freemasons 
practise the very same rites and ceremonies and 
have substantially the same esoteric or secret modes 
of recognition as are practised by ourselves and by 
the universal family of Freemasons throughout the 
world. 

Prince Hall and his brother (negro) Free- 
masons continued to meet socially and other- 
wise, and (as declared and not disproved) as 
a Lodge, although they did no Masonic 
work, until some time between 1781 and 
1783, when they applied to the Massachu- 
setts Grand Lodge for a warrant. The re- 
quest was refused. Application for a war- 
rant was made to the Grand Lodge of Eng- 
land, March 7, 1784, and on September 29, 
1784 (shortly after the close of the War of 
the Revolution), the Grand Lodge of Eng- 






FREEMASONRY AMONG NEGROES 



73 



land issued a warrant to Prince Hall and his 
fourteen associates at Boston, constituting 
African Lodge, No. 454, of Free and Ac- 
cepted Masons. But it was not until 1787 
that the fee for the warrant was received 
in England, the warrant delivered, and the 
Lodge name entered on the roll of Lodges 
holding obedience to the Grand Lodge of 
England. It will be borne in mind that 
the present American Masonic doctrine of 
exclusive territorial jurisdiction was not rec- 
ognized abroad at that time, and was not 
being enforced here. African Lodge con- 
tinued a regular, working Lodge of the 
Grand Lodge of England as late as 3797, 
making annual or other returns, with con- 
tributions to the charity fund of the Grand 
Lodge of England, as required by its war- 
rant. That it was really active is shown 
by its establishing a Lodge at Philadelphia 
in 1797, and one at Providence, concerning 
which the late Albert Pike wrote, September 
13, 1875, to the Grand Secretary of the 
(white) Grand Lodge of Ohio: 

Prince Hall Lodge was as regular a Lodge as any 
Lodge created by a competent authority, and had a 
perfect right (as other Lodges in Europe did) to es- 
tablish other Lodges, making itself a mother Lodge. 
That's the way the Berlin Lodges, Three Globes and 
Royal York became Grand Lodges. 

As to the question of the strict Masonic 
legality of all that African Lodge and some 
of its successors did, T. S. Parvin, Grand 
Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Iowa wrote 
to the Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge 
of Ohio : 

The negroes can make as good a show for the 
legality of their Grand Lodges as the whites can. 
It's only a matter of taste, not laws. I am satisfied 
that all the world outside the United States will, 
ere long, recognize them. 

Upon the union of the Grand Lodges of 
England, in 1813, African Lodge was re- 
moved from the list, and has never been 
recognized by the Grand Lodge of England 
since. African Lodge, however, must have 
ignored this treatment, for its records are 
declared to show that eighty candidates were 



initiated between 1807 and 1826. In 1808 
delegates from the negro Lodges at Boston, 
Providence, and Philadelphia met at Bos- 
ton and formed African (frequently called 
" Prince Hall ") Grand Lodge (referred to 
by- Pike in a preceding quotation), which 
body is the source of all Masonic authority 
among negro Freemasons in the United 
States to-day. In 1827 African Lodge de- 
clared itself independent of the Grand 
Lodge of England. In 1847 there were 
three negro Grand Lodges: one in Massa- 
chusetts, and two in Pennsylvania, delegates 
from which met at Boston that year and or- 
ganized the " National Grand Lodge of the 
United States of North America/' to be 
the Supreme Masonic power in the United 
States. Grand Lodges were formed in New 
York, New Jersey, Maryland, and the Dis- 
trict of Columbia in 1848, in Ohio and 
Delaware in 1849, in Indiana, Rhode Island, 
and the Province of Ontario in 1856, in 
Louisiana in 1863, and Liberia in 1867. 
Louisiana refused allegiance to the National 
Grand Lodge, and three years later Ohio 
withdrew from it, followed by the Grand 
Lodge of the District of Columbia. By 
1880 all the Grand Lodges except Missis- 
sippi had withdrawn, and not long after the 
National Grand Lodge practically ceased to 
exist. In 1896 there were Sovereign Grand 
Lodges of Free and Accepted negro Ma- 
sons in thirty-two States, and one each in 
the District of Columbia, the Province of 
Ontario, and in Liberia. 

S. E. Scottron, Brooklyn, writes, July 27, 
1897, that the National Grand Lodge " still 
exists," with subordinate Lodges "in sev- 
eral States," but it is doubtful whether this 
is anything more than an attempt of former 
officials to revive it. One of the best known 
negroes formerly connected with the Na- 
tional Grand Lodge is Richard Gleaves, 
of Washington, D. C, Lieutenant-Governor 
of South Carolina during the reconstruc- 
tion period, and National Grand Master of 
negro Freemasons for many years. The 
"negro question" in American Masonic 



74 



FREEMASONRY AMONG NEGROES 



Grand Lodges has naturally been promi- 
nent during the latter half of the century. 
In New Jersey it took a crucial form when 
Alpha Lodge, No. 16, at Newark, made a 
number of negroes Freemasons. The re- 
sult, for a time, was no inconsiderable dis- 
satisfaction among the Craft, but the Lodge 
continues to this day on the roll of the 
Grand Lodge of New Jersey, the only in- 
stance in the United States of a regular 
Masonic Lodge of negroes attached to a 
white Grand Lodge. In 1875 the white 
Grand Lodge of Ohio became interested 
in the subject of the universality of Free- 
masonry, and an effort was made to recog- 
nize the negro Grand Lodge of that State. 
The matter was referred to a committee, 
and a report was made in favor of the 
project. When it came to voting on the 
adoption of the report, a point of order was 
raised, which the Grand Master decided not 
well taken. On appeal, the Grand Master's 
decision was reversed by a vote of 390 to 332, 
and so the whole matter came to naught. 
E. B. Irving, Grand Master of "the Most 
Worshipful Grand Lodge of the Most An- 
cient and Honorable Fraternity of Free and 
Accepted (negro) Masons, State of New 
York," writes from Albany, March 16, 
1896, that "the Prince Hall Grand Lodge 
of Massachusetts, from which all negro 
Grand Lodges obtain their authority, is in 
fraternal relations with white Grand Lodges 
in Germany and Hungary," and that "in 
foreign countries colored Masons are received 
and accorded all the rights of a brother in 
Masonic Lodges, although (even though?) 
he may hail from the United States," and 
that he has "yet to learn of one who has 
been refused." S. W. Clark, Grand Mas- 
ter of (negro) Free Masons in Ohio in 1886, 
whose pamphlet, " The Negro Mason in 
Equity," is well worth careful reading, adds 
that in France, Italy, Germany, Hungary, 
Peru, and Dominica "our representatives" 
are "received, and accredited as such." 
Mr. Clark makes an able plea for the recog- 
nition of the regularity of negro Masonic 



Lodges in America, and, while he seems to 
have demolished those of his adversaries 
who rely upon the American Masonic doc- 
trine of " exclusive territorial jurisdiction," 
he appears to rely too much upon proving 
irregularity on the part of early white Grand 
bodies, to excuse the irregularity of like 
negro organizations, overlooking the fact 
that the irregularity of the former was 
subsequently healed. His argument is, of 
course, that the faults of the early grand and 
subordinate negro bodies could be healed by 
competent Masonic authority with quite as 
much propriety; the only reply to which is 
that it has not been done. Yet, when all 
else is said, the quoted comment by the late 
Albert Pike cannot be ignored, that the first 
African Grand Lodge, formed by represent- 
atives of three subordinate Lodges, two of 
which Lodges were created by the first, was 
no more irregular than were the Berlin 
Grand bodies, the Three Globes, and the 
Eoyal York, which were formed in a similar 
manner. 

In 1898 the Grand Lodge of the State 
of Washington took an advanced view of 
this subject, going so far as to suggest the 
propriety of the recognition of the legiti- 
macy of colored Freemasons, the origin of 
the charters of whose Lodges is found, of 
course, in the charter granted to African 
Lodge of Boston by the Grand Lodge of 
England, in the last century. As a conse- 
quence the Grand Lodge of Kentucky has 
adopted a resolution declaring non-inter- 
course with Washington ; the Grand Lodges 
of Arkansas, New Jersey, and South Caro- 
lina have also severed relations with Wash- 
ington, and the Grand Master of New York 
has requested the Grand Eepresentative 
of Washington to resign his commission. 
Maryland and Rhode Island contented them- 
selves by expressing the hope that Wash- 
ington will reconsider its action. 

There are, therefore, two streams of Free- 
masonry coursing through the United 
States. Each started from the same source 
and both are running in the same direction. 



FREEMASONRY AMONG NEGROES 



75 



One forms a mighty torrent, while the other 
is only a brook. But their routes to the 
great sea of universal brotherhood are paral- 
lel, divided only by the embankment of con- 
ditions and race prejudice. 

Negro Freemasons in America have flat- 
tered white possessors of various Masonic 
rites and ceremonials by imitating or paral- 
leling all of them. Thus we find among 
the negroes symbolic Lodges, Royal Arch 
Chapters, and Commauderies of Knights 
Templars, corresponding to the American 
system, as well as five or more so-called Su- 
preme Councils of a "thirty-third degree 
Ancient, Accepted Scottish Bite," each 
claiming exclusive jurisdiction and the ab- 
solute lack of authority on the part of rival 
Supreme Councils. 

The Most Puissant Sovereign Grand Com- 
mander of the Philadelphia Negro Supreme 
Council, George W. Roper, wrote John H. 
Deyo, Grand Master of negro Freemasons 
in New York, in 1895, that the first negro 
Chapter of Royal Arch Masons was organ- 
ized at Philadelphia in 1819 or 1820, by the 
aid of the white Royal Arch Chapter of the 
State of Pennsylvania, and that the first 
negro Grand Royal Arch Chapter was formed 
in Pennsylvania in or about 1826. Little 
more was done in this direction until long 
after the anti-Masonic agitation died out 
(1836), and it was not until 1879, according 
to Macoy, that a Grand Royal Arch Chapter 
w r as organized in New York. Statistics re- 
garding " Chapter Masonry " among negroes 
are difficult to obtain, but from inquiry 
among a number of those best informed it 
seems probable that negro Royal xlrch Chap- 
ters number more than 5,000 members. 
The statement is also made that the first 
Comma ndery of negro Knights Templars 
was formed at Philadelphia (some time, but 
not long after the first Royal Arch Chap- 
ter) by the white Grand Encampment of 
Knights Templars of Pennsylvania (1816- 
25). Whether it was the Grand Chapter 
and the Grand Encampment of Pennsyl- 
vania, or merely white Royal Arch Masons 



and Knights Templars who Were responsi- 
ble for these acts may never be known. In 
fact, this explanation of the origin of 
Capitular and Templar Freemasonry among 
negroes seems to rest on the declarations of 
the men named. Negro Knights Templars 
were not known out of Pennsylvania for 
many years, when they appeared in Balti- 
more and Washington. The first negro En- 
campment in New York was organized, ac- 
cording to Macoy, as late as 1872, and the 
Grand Encampment there in 1875. The 
writer is informed by those who should 
know that there were nineteen negro 
Grand Encampments in the United States 
in 1895, with nearly 3,000 Sir Knights. 

African Supreme Council, " Ancient, Ac- 
cepted Scottish Rite for the American 
Continent," is declared to have been estab- 
lished at Philadelphia in 1820 by authority 
of the Grand Orient of France, which body, 
Masonic students will recall, did not, and 
does not, authorize the working of degrees 
of that rite. It is of interest to note, how- 
ever, that while negro Royal Arch Masons 
and Knights Templars claim that the first 
negro Chapter and Encampment were 
formed at Philadelphia by members of the 
Pennsylvania white Grand Chapter and 
Grand Encampment, respectively, their tra- 
ditions as to the founding of the first negro 
Supreme Council (Scottish Rite) attribute 
it to a foreign supreme body — strangely 
enough, to the one of the two French Ma- 
sonic supreme bodies which, in 1820, recog- 
nized only the French Rite of seven degrees. 
African Supreme Council is not known to 
have done much more than to exist on paper 
until 1850, when it was succeeded by the so- 
called David Leary Supreme Council. The 
latter did not exhibit much activity until 
after the Civil War, and when questioned as 
to the warrant for its authority, presented a 
document purporting to have been issued 
by the Grand Orient of France, in 1850, to 
David Leary of Philadelphia, through its 
Deputy, one Larine, and signed by certain 
persons as officers. On comparing the names 



76 FREEMASONRY AMONG NEGROES 

with those laid down in the annual calen- authority on " a charter for a Council of 
dars of the Grand Orient and in its bulle- Princes of Jerusalem, purporting to have 
tins, it was found that no such men had been issued by the African Council," Phila- 
held office at that or any other time, nor did delphia, and is in affiliation with the Phila- 
the name of Larine appear in its tableau of delphia consolidated (Northern) Supreme 
membership, nor was the seal appended Council, and the " Supreme Council for the 
thereto the seal of the Grand Orient. This Northwestern Jurisdiction of the United 
warrant, when examined by representatives States," with its " Grand East" at St. 
of a rival negro Supreme Council, was found Louis, an organization of schismatic origin, 
to be sealed with the letters "A. Y. M." The Washington Supreme Council (South- 
and "a Good Templar's Seal." It maybe ern Jurisdiction) was formed in 1869, and 
well to explain that the Scottish Eite de- soon became dormant, but was revived in 
grees in France are conferred exclusively 1879. There are, therefore, four negro Su- 
by the authority of the Supreme Council, a preme Councils professing to confer Scottish 
body having no connection with the Grand Eite degrees in the United States. They 
Orient. The latter, although possessing are spasmodically active, usually dormant, 
these degrees, discountenances their use, as exhibitions of life, being usually confined to* 
it does the rites of Misraim, Memphis, and a gathering of officers to reelect each other, 
other products of Masonic degree-makers of or to make a few "thirty-seconds" and 
the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. "thirty-thirds." The St. Louis Supreme 
An outgrowth of the revival of this so- Council, which claims Northwestern Juris- 
called Scottish Eite Freemasonry at Philadel- diction, has about 150 members, but noth- 
phia was the formation of a rival known as ing in the nature of what, by even a stretch 
King David Supreme Council. It claimed of courtesy, could be called authority for 
direct descent from African Supreme Coun- existence. The Washington Supreme Coun- 
cil, which died in 1850. There was also cil's existence rests, it is declared, on a char- 
a King Frederick Supreme Council there, ter for a Council of Princes of Jerusalem 
twenty years ago, established by the founder (a subordinate Scottish Eite body), granted 
of the Baltimore Supreme Council, who by African Supreme Council years before 
claimed to have authority for that purpose the Washington organization appeared. Its 
from the negro Supreme Council for the own claim to a warrant from the Grand 
United States, its Territories and Dependen- Orient of France refers, probably, to the bare 
cies, established at New York city in 1864 by allegation that the African Supreme Coun- 
Baron Auguste Hugo de Bulow, a member cil was chartered by the Grand Orient, a 
of the Supreme Council of France. As that statement which is its own refutation. The 
New York Supreme Council repudiated the spurious character of the warrant of. the 
placing of Supreme Councils at Baltimore Philadelphia Supreme Council has been re- 
and at Philadelphia, little remains to be said ferred to. This leaves only the New York 
in reference to them. So far as learned, the Supreme Council to deal with — that of 
only existing negro Supreme Councils are which Peter W. Eay, M.D., and S. E. Scot- 
the David Leary of Philadelphia, with which tron of Brooklyn, N. Y., are leaders. The 
the King Frederick Supreme Council united Baron de Bulow, 33°, a member of the 
in 1881 under the title S. C, etc., Northern Supreme Council of France, came to New 
Jurisdiction, U. S. A.; that referred to at York in 1862, accredited as a Eepresenta- 
New York city; the " Supreme Council for tive to the Supreme Council of the United 
the Southern Jurisdiction of the U. S. A.," States, Northern Jurisdiction (white) — as 
with headquarters at Washington, Thornton related by negro Freemasons, members of 
A. Jackson, M. P. S. G. C, which bases its the negro Supreme Council of New York, 



FREEMASONRY AMONG NEGROES 



77 



and, as also admitted, he returned to France 
accredited by the (white) Supreme Council 
named, as Eepresentative to the Supreme 
Council of Frauce — the body controlling 
Scottish Eite grades or degrees in France. 
On a second visit to this country, in 1864, 
the Baron, finding no Scottish Eite Masonry 
among negro Freemasons here, declared the 
(that ?) territory vacant, and by his claimed 
prerogative, as Sovereign Grand Inspector 
General of the Supreme Council of France, 
he organized a Supreme Council of negroes 
who had been created thirty-third degree 
Freemasons by himself for that purpose. 
The first to receive the degree was Patrick 
H. Eeason, then Most Worshipful Grand 
Master of the negro Grand Lodge of Free- 
masons of the State of New York. De 
Bulow never returned to France, but re- 
mained until his death, in the endeavor to 
firmly establish Scottish Eite Freemasonry 
among colored men. In view of the Baron's 
-action, it is proper to point out that by 
the law of all recognized Supreme Coun- 
cils of the Ancient, Accepted Scottish Eite 
(of which the Supreme Council of France is 
one), no Inspector General is permitted to 
establish a Supreme Council of the rite in 
any country where such a body already ex- 
ists, except by special patent issued for the 
purpose. The question, then, is, did De 
Bulow know of the existence of a Supreme 
Council in the United States at the time he 
took this step — one recognized by the Su- 
preme Council of France ? The answer is, 
of course, that as he had visited such a 
Council here— that for the Northern Juris- 
diction — and had been appointed by it a 
Eepresentative to the Supreme Council of 
France; one, therefore, did exist, and un- 
less he had a special patent from France 
empowering him to do what he did in 1864 
— which he never had or claimed to have — 
his action in establishing a negro Supreme 
Council was, Masonically, illegal and void. 
De Bulow was evidently a visionary, un- 
doubtedly a philanthropist, and on what he 
conceived to be the ethics of a situation, a 



law unto himself. He showed his sincerity 
in what he did by creating his son and ten 
negroes "thirty-third degree Masons," who 
with himself — nine black and two white 
men — were the original members of the 
negro Supreme Couucil "for the United 
States, its Territories and Dependencies." 

All the negro Supreme Councils men- 
tioned are, for reasons given, irregular; 
some of them spurious, and none of them 
has ever been accorded recognition by any 
regular Supreme Council in the world. 
Their total membership is about 1,000, 
of which about 600 belong to the Philadel- 
phia and Washington bodies, and 250 
to the New York Supreme Council. An 
effort was made, in 1881, to unite the 
negro Supreme Councils, but, with the 
exception noted, it failed, and the strife 
for office, for decorations, and for recog- 
nition of the regularity of one over another 
is likely to keep them apart. 

Little remains to be added in a brief 
historical sketch of Freemasonry among 
negroes, except that a schismatic Scot- 
tish Eite body existed for a brief period 
at Xew York, a few years ago, known 
as the "Joe Smith" Supreme Council, and 
that nearly twenty-five years ago one Eobert 
Cowes (negro) claimed to have received the 
ritual of the Eite of Memphis from the 
Grand Orient of France for propagation 
among negroes in the United States. It is 
not known that he ever received authority 
to do that. On the contrary, there is good 
reason to believe that the Grand Orient of 
France did nothing of the kind. (See Free- 
masonry, Eite of Memphis.) In any event 
no bodies of that rite exist here. About 
twenty years ago there was a negro Supreme 
Council established at Baltimore (not the 
one already referred to) by Charles P. Daly 
of Ocala, Fla., who claimed authority from 
some body in the British West Indies. The 
first negro Supreme Council at Baltimore was 
established by Lemuel G. Griffin, as stated, 
an Inspector General of the New York Su- 
preme Council, who afterward organized 



78 



FREEMASONRY: RITE OF MEMPHIS, ANCIENT AND PRIMITIVE 



King Frederick Supreme Council at Phila- 
delphia. Nothing is known of these organi- 
zations to-day. 

Freemasonry : Rite of Memphis, An- 
cient and Primitive. — No account of this 
Masonic rite would be complete which ig- 
nored its parent, the Eite of Misraim. The 
latter was founded at Milan in 1805. Prom- 
inent among its members were Lechangeur, 
Joly, and Bedarride. Lechangeur, on being 
refused admission into the Supreme Council 
of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Kite, 
compiled and organized the Rite of Misraim 
in opposition to the former. It consisted 
of eighty-seven degrees at first, later of 
ninety degrees, which included nearly all 
the numerous Scottish Eite degrees in ex- 
istence — degrees borrowed from other rites, 
from floating material, or invented for the 
purpose. It was introduced into France in 
1814, where recognition was refused it by 
the Grand Orient. In 1817 the Supreme 
Council of the Eite of Misraim was dis- 
solved, but Lodges continued to exist, and 
finally, in 1822, the Eite became dormant, 
although it has been practised by a few Eu- 
ropean Lodges at intervals almost ever since. 
The ninety degrees were conferred (most 
of them, probably, communicated) in four 
series and seventeen classes; the first being 
entitled Symbolic, the second Philosophic, 
the third Mystical, and the fourth Kabbalis- 
tic. This Eite claimed the privilege of con- 
trolling all other Masonic rites, which, aside 
from its being very complicated, was enough 
to condemn it. Some of its degrees were 
based on the ancient Egyptian mysteries, 
hence Misraim, an ancient name for Egypt. 
It differs from all other Masonic rites in 
that it abolished the legend of the third de- 
gree, and introduced the story of the death 
of a son of Lamech, who was killed by three 
ruffians. An attempt to revive the rite in 
France in 1856 failed, and Gould, in his 
"History of Freemasonry," says that for 
several years after its few Lodges continued 
a precarious existence. A ponderous ac- 
count of the Eite was published by Mark 



Bedarride in 1835, entitled " The Order of 
Misraim." 

Jacques Etienne Marconis was initiated 
into the Eite of Misraim in April, 1833, and 
expelled therefrom in June following. In 
1839, in association with Moullet and others, 
he founded the Eite of Memphis at Paris, 
and soon after established Lodges at Mar- 
seilles and Brussels. It consisted of ninety- 
one degrees, later of ninety-two degrees, and 
afterward of ninety-six degrees, with a 
ninety-seventh degree for the official head 
of the Eite. It should require little special 
information to properly infer that this rite 
was based on that of Misraim. It appro- 
priated bodily degrees of the Ancient and 
Accepted Scottish Eite, those peculiar to the 
Eite of Misraim, and supplemented them 
with inventions. Gould states that Mar- 
conis, who had been expelled in 1833, estab- 
lished a Lodge of the Eite of Misraim in 
1836, and in 1838 was again expelled. Then 
he fabricated the Eite of Memphis, the first 
Lodge of which was formed at Paris in 1838. 
In 1840 the Paris Lodges of the Eite were 
closed by the police, but were revived in 
1849. The Eite was unrecognized by the 
Grand Orient of France during all that 
period, and, therefore, was irregular. Late 
in the fifties it became dormant. Mackey 
states that in 1862 Marconis applied to the 
Grand Orient of France for recognition for 
the Eite of Memphis, and got it by divest- 
ing himself of all authority over it and plac- 
ing it entirely in the" hands of the Grand 
Orient, which absorbed and shelved it, 
where, so far as the Grand Orient is con- 
cerned, it remains to-day. As this rite util- 
ized the third degree of Craft Masonry, sev- 
eral of its Lodges were revived after 1862, 
but worked only the symbolic degrees. 

In 1873 one Carence, with Marconis, con- 
ferred the Eose Croix (Memphis) degree on 
several Freemasons who were officially in- 
formed that no power or authority permitted 
such an act, as Marconis had divested him- 
self of all claim to the rite in May, 1862, 
and again, formally, in 1863, 1864, 1865, and 



FREEMASONRY: RITE OF MEMPHIS, ANCIENT AND PRIMITIVE 



79 



1866. In reply to an inquiry from the Su- 
preme Council of the Ancient and Accepted 
Scottish Rite of England, in 1872, the Grand 
Secretary of the Grand Orient of France ex- 
plained the foregoing, and stated that at the 
time the treaty was negotiated with Mar- 
conis, 1862, H. J. Seymour of New York 
city was at Paris; but that he, the latter, 
received no power to confer degrees of the 
Rite of Memphis, although, owing to the 
bad faith of Marconis, the latter pretended 
he had ceded the rite to the Grand Orient 
for France alone. Seymour assumed the 
title of Grand Master of the Rite of Mem- 
phis for America, and founded a Sovereign 
Sanctuary in New York, which, strangely 
enough, in 1867 appeared on the Calendar 
of the Grand Orient of France for that year. 
The Grand Secretary of the latter body adds 
that after learning Seymour was conferring 
more than the three symbolic degrees, the 
Grand Orient " broke off all connection with 
this power and personally with Brother Sey- 
mour," who never had " either a char- 
ter or power from the Grand Orient of 
France." 

On the other hand, Gould says that in 
1850 and 1854 a Chapter and a Council of 
the Rite of Memphis had been established 
in New York city, and that in 1860 Mar- 
corns went to America and established a 
Grand Lodge of "Disciples of Memphis" 
at Troy. In 1857 the rite was known in 
New York, and in 1862 a Sovereign Sanc- 
tuary was chartered. It Avas taken from 
America to England in 1872, where the 
number of degrees was reduced from ninety- 
five to thirty-three. The same authority 
explains that in 1862 Marconis, in response 
to a circular sent out by the Grand Orient 
of France, demanded recognition for "one 
of his dormant French Lodges," which was 
granted; that his symbolic Lodges then be- 
came a part of the Grand Orient, and his 
whole system was supposed to have come 
under the supervision of that Grand body. 
According to this, the rite had been estab- 
lished in the United States before Marconis 



ceded anything to the Grand Orient of 
France. Robert Morris, in the " Freema- 
sons' Almanac," January 1, 1865, says that 
the Rite of Memphis has a beautiful and im- 
pressive ritual; that it was introduced herf 
November 9, 1856, by Marconis, who estab- 
lished a Supreme Council, ninety degrees, 
with John Mitchel at its head, and a Sover- 
eign Grand Council, ninety-four degrees, 
with David McLellan as Grand Master. 
But for some reason the system did not 
flourish, not even after Seymour was in- 
vested with the highest degree in Paris in 
1862, and with authority to establish a Sov- 
ereign Grand Sanctuary of Conservators 
General of the Order in America. A Sov- 
ereign Council Geueral was established in 
New England, but that and the various 
State organizations made slow headway, and 
had only a few hundred working members. 
Seymour, who had a pyrotechnical, but un- 
enviable, career in several Masonic rites, is 
declared by members of a so-called Scottish 
Rite among negroes in the United States 
to have received the ritual of the Rite of 
Memphis from Robert Cowes, a negro, to 
whom it was committed by the proper au- 
thorities for propagation among his race, 
and to have used it for his (Seymour's) 
benefit. This is probably an error, due to 
Marconis' s having been nicknamed " De 
Negre," owing to his dark complexion. 
H. C. Goodale of Jamaica, L. I., for sev- 
eral years the chief secretarial officer of the 
Rite of Memphis in America, adds that Sey- 
mour did not condense the Rite of Memphis 
to form his Cerneau Rite. Mr. Goodale 
wrote, in 1895, that the Rite of Memphis 
still existed, but that it was " very inac- 
tive," practically dormant, "waiting for 
better times." In addition to the Sover- 
eign Sanctuary established in 1862, there 
had been formed six Mystic Temples, twelve 
Councils, S. M. G. W., twenty-three Sen- 
ates of H. P., and forty-one Chapters of 
R. C, with a membership in 1895, which, 
while not large, was scattered through many 
States. The roll of Grand Conservators was 



80 



FREEMASONRY: KNIGHTS OF ROME AND RED CROSS OF CONSTANTINE 



declared to include " many Past Grand Mas- 
ters and high dignitaries in Masonry." 
The official organ of the Kite, ' ' The Lybic 
Chain," was published at New York in 
1883, and continued to appear for a num- 
ber of years. S. C. Gould, Manchester, 
N. H., states that a body was organized at 
TJtica, N.Y., in 1880, under the title, " The 
Antient and Primitive Oriental Kite of Mis- 
raim," but Goodale says the Eite of Misraim 
was represented at New York city in 1895 
by about twenty-five members of the Eite 
of Memphis, who "thought of obtaining 
a charter and continuing the work." Evi- 
dently the " Oriental Eite " of Misraim was 
something else. 

There was also an Egyptian Masonic Eite 
of Memphis for the Cosmos in Boston, in 
1881, which was not long-lived, and there 
are records of an Antient and Primitive 
(Spanish) Oriental Eite of "Memphis and 
Misraim " at New York, Philadelphia, and 
Chicago in recent years, which had no con- 
nection with the Ancient and Primitive 
Eite of Memphis established here by Mar- 
conis. Sovereign Sanctuaries of the origi- 
nal Eite of Memphis have been established 
in America (now dead), Great Britain (at 
Withingham, Manchester, address John 
Yarker, editor of the official organ, "The 
Kneph"), Italy, Eoumania, Egypt, and (it 
is said) in India. 

Spanish and Eoumanian branches have 
been a source of trouble to American Free- 
masons, by granting permission to irrespon- 
sible or other persons to propagate the so- 
called Oriental Eite of " Memphis and Mis- 
raim ' ' in the United States, a hodge-podge 
of those Bites and of the vagaries of those 
disseminating them. 

Jacques Ochs, a Eoumanian, claimed au- 
thority, between 1890 and 1896, from the 
National Grand Lodge of Eoumania to es- 
tablish Masonic Lodges in the United States. 
His authority was revoked, and he then ap- 
peared as a Eepresentative of the Grand 
Orient of Spain for the Eite of " Memphis 
and Misraim," and established Lodges of 



something in New York, which he told the 
initiates were regular Masonic bodies in 
which they could get all the degrees at low 
rates. His operations extended to Philadel- 
phia and Chicago, where he found many 
dupes at so much per capita. He was de- 
nounced by regular Masonic authorities, and 
soon found himself under arrest, after which 
the bodies created by him died out. It was 
the old story of a clever degree-peddler prey- 
ing upon credulity and ignorance. The 
Ochs Eite of " Memphis and Misraim " was 
not the Marconis Eite, which became dor- 
mant here about 1895, and in which a num- 
ber of prominent Masons were interested for 
a brief period. The death of the latter was 
due to structural weakness and dry rot. 
Seymour, who was something of a degree- 
peddler himself, induced many acquaint- 
ances to join the Eite under the impression 
they were uniting with the Ancient and 
Accepted Scottish Eite, and, so long as he 
could sell them paraphernalia, costumes, 
etc., he was willing to let the members rule 
and govern the Eite, although he himself 
was the Grand Hierophant. Notwithstand- 
ing this, which is learned from those to 
whom it was a mattei of personal experi- 
ence, a number of prominent Freemasons be- 
came identified with the Ancient and Prim- 
itive Eite of Memphis, only to lose interest 
and drop out. This Eite is a masquerad- 
ing Eite of Misraim, originally founded as 
a rival degree-shop, and was very properly 
smothered by the Grand Orient of France 
in 1862, which body, it would seem, was 
deceived into believing the founder had 
delivered up all authority over it. It went 
from the United States to England and 
elsewhere abroad, where it was apparently 
dressed up or down, so that not even Mar- 
conis, its own father, would know it under 
such a title as an " Oriental, Scottish Eite 
of Memphis and Misraim." The rituals of 
the Eites of Misraim and of Memphis prop- 
erly belong in a library of Masonic curios. 

Freemasonry : Order of Knights of 
Rome and of the Bed Cross of Con- 



FREEMASONRY: KNIGHTS OF ROME AND RED CROSS OF CONSTANTINE 



81 



stantine.* — Sometimes called the Order of 
the Eed Cross of Constantine, said to be the 
oldest Order of Knighthood conferred in 
connection with Freemasonry. The origin 
of the Order is attributed to Constantine the 
Great, who, just before the battle of Saxa 
Rubra, October 28, a.d., 312, beheld a 
vision of the Passion Cross in the heavens, 
with the inscription (usually given in 
Greek) : "Hoc Vince " (Conquer by This), 
generally rendered : " In Hoc Signo 
Vinces," whereupon he vowed that, if suc- 
cessful against the enemy and his life was 
spared, he would create an Order of 
Knighthood to champion the Christian 
religion and commemorate his victory. 
This he is declared to have done at Rome, 
December 25, a.d. 312. Constantine, at 
the time of the vision, was not a believer 
in the Christian religion, and he and his 
friends believed that the- Cross in the 
heavens was a divine omen. To emphasize 
his conversion to Christianity, Constantine 
caused each of his officers who had em- 
braced the Christian religion and received 
at his hands the new Order of Christian 
Knighthood to wear a Red Cross on the 
breast or on the right arm, and on the 
Roman Imperial standards he placed golden 
wreaths, and within them monograms com- 
posed of the Greek letters " Chi " (X) and 
" Rho " (P), the first of the two letters of 
the name Christ. Constantine, the first 
Christian Roman Emperor, was further 
identified with the cause of Christianity 
through his mother, Helena, who, in the 
year 32G, discovered and brought out of the 
Holy Land the remains of the true Cross, 
and by reason of his having convened the 
Council of Nice in 325, where Constantine 
was received by Bishop Eusebius with a 
panegyrical oration. Thus it is that a recent 
writer describes the Order as commemo- 
rating "the first elevation of Christianity 

* This Christian Order is not to be confounded 
with the Jewish and Persian degree, known as the 
Order of the Red Cross, conferred in American 
Commanderies of Knights Templars. 
6 



from the position of a despised and pro- 
scribed heresy to that of a legally recog- 
nized and honored religion/' One of the 
first acts of the Original Knights of the 
Red Cross of Constantine was to replace 
the heathen symbols on the public build- 
ings in Rome with representations of the 
Red Cross. In 326 Emperor Constantine 
instituted the Order of Knight of the 
Grand Cross, to be conferred only on 
Knights of the Red Cross who had become 
distinguished in the sciences, the learned 
professions, or in the army. The number 
of Knights of the Grand Cross created by 
Emperor Constantine was fifty, and in 1119, 
at a Grand Assembly of Knights of the 
Order at Rome, it was made a statute of 
the Order that only fifty Knights of the 
Grand Cross should be created in any king- 
dom or independent country. After the 
death of Constantine, in 337, the Popes of 
Rome claimed and exercised sovereign 
authority over the Order for many years. 
It is related that in 765 the Order had 
among its members emperors, kings, and 
princes, when the first pilgrimage was made 
to the Holy Sepulchre under its banners. 
This was in accord with the obligations of 
its members, for in 314, when Constantine 
instituted the Order of Knights of the Holy 
Sepulchre at the prayer of his mother, 
Helena, they were especially commissioned 
to protect the Holy Sepulchre from the 
attacks of enemies of the Christian faith. 
During the Crusades, the Order of Knights 
of Rome and of the Red Cross of Constan- 
tine were widely known. In 1119 Em- 
peror Michael Angelos Com menus was 
elected Sovereign Grand Master of the 
Order, and that title was retained in his 
family until 1699. The Order was revived 
in England in 1688 by the Venetian am- 
bassador at the Court of St. James, Lon- 
don, and in 1692 the Abbe Giustiniani, a 
learned Italian priest, conferred the Orders 
of Knights of the Red Cross of Constantine, 
Holy Sepulchre, and of St. John the Evan- 
gelist on several members of the English 



82 



FREEMASONRY: KNIGHTS OF ROME AND RED CROSS OF CONSTANTINE 



Court. It is to the Abbe that the Order is 
indebted for the preservation of its tradi- 
tions, landmarks, and rituals, and it was 
from the latter that Walter Rodwell Wright, 
Provisional Grand Sovereign of the Order 
in England in 1804, doubtless gained ma- 
terial for the preparation of the modern 
ritual. Baron Hunde, in his " History 
of the Templar System of Strict Observ- 
ance/' 1750, states : " The great and rapid 
progress of Freemasonry on the European 
Continent is largely due to the efforts of 
the Knights of Rome and of the Red Cross 
of Constantine." The claim is made that 
the Order was conferred in England as a 
Masonic degree as early as 1783, and that 
in 1788 it was conferred upon a number of 
English Freemasons, among others, officers 
of both of the Grand Lodges of England. 
That well-known Freemason, Thomas 
Dunckerly, was created a Knight of Rome 
and of the Red Cross of Constantine in 
1790, and was afterwards Sovereign Grand 
Master of the Order in England, and at 
the head of the Order of the Temple at the 
same period. Three succeeding heads of 
the Order of Knights of Constantine were 
likewise Grand Masters of the Order of the 
Temple. Hughan, the Masonic historian, 
states that while the Orders of the Red 
Cross of Constantine and of the Temple 
were for many years "worked" harmo- 
niously, side by side, they " were kept 
strictly separate/' and the fact that the 
Constantine Orders of Knighthood have 
been conferred only upon Freemasons ever 
since the middle of the eighteenth century 
is probably due to that association. In 
1807 there was quite a revival of the Order 
in Europe and in the English colonies, 
and the Orders of this Christian Knight- 
hood were conferred upon many Freema- 
sons among the English nobility. The 
Grand Imperial Council of England was 
organized at London in 1808, and in the 
following year it claimed and exercised sov- 
ereignty over the Order throughout the 
world. In 1809 the London Encampment 



(Conclave) conferred the Orders of Chris- 
tian Knighthood on a class of "eight 
prominent high Freemasons/' in the pres- 
ence of several Knights of the Grand 
Cross of the Order. Members of both the 
so-called Ancient and the Modern English 
Grand Lodges of Freemasons, who were 
members of the Constantine Orders, took 
active part in the negotiations which led to 
the union of the two Grand Masonic Lodges 
in 1813, when the Duke of Sussex was 
elected Grand Master of the United Grand 
Lodge of England, and also Sovereign 
Grand Master of the Grand Imperial Coun- 
cil of England of the Order of Knights of 
Rome and of the Red Cross of Constantine. 
During the period 1813-43 the Order again 
became notable as "the first Order of 
Chivalry in Europe/' some of its chroni- 
clers adding that the Grand Cross of the 
Order was considered as great an honor "as 
the Order of the Garter." In 1862 the 
Knights of the Grand Cross did much to 
attract attention to the Order through a 
ceremonial commemorative of the establish- 
ment of the Grand Imperial Council more 
than fifty years before, in which the Sir 
Knights taking part included members of 
the royal family and many other gentle- 
men of high rank, cabinet officers, members 
of Parliament, and representatives of the 
army and navy. 

From that period the English Grand Im- 
perial Council began to extend the Order, 
beginning in 1866, by reviving it in Ger- 
many, France, Italy, and in many of the 
English colonies. In 1869 it was introduced 
into the Dominion of Canada, and on May 
19, 1870, into the United States, at Phila- 
delphia. In 1871 Conclaves were instituted 
in New York, Massachusetts, Kentucky, 
Indiana, Vermont, Maine, New Jersey, 
Michigan, Virginia, Delaware, and Mary- 
land, in the order named. The Indepen- 
dent Grand Council of Pennsylvania was 
organized in 1872, the Grand Council of 
New York and Grand Imperial Councils 
of Illinois, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island 



FREEMASONRY: KNIGHTS OF ROME AND RED CROSS OF CONSTANTINE 



83 



in 1872 ; the Imperial Grand Council of 
Michigan in 1874; of Kentucky, Indiana, 
Vermont, Maine, and of New Jersey in 1875; 
and of the Dominion of Canada in 1876. In 
1875, according to the " Memorabilia," etc., 
prepared, in 1895, by Thomas Leahy of 
Eochester, N. Y., Grand Registrar General 
of the Sovereign Grand Council of the 
United States, the Sovereign Grand Council 
of the United States was organized at New 
York city, by representatives of all the then 
existing State Grand and Imperial Councils 
of the Order, all of which gave pledges of 
" fealty and allegiance" to the new Sover- 
eign Grand Council, and each State Grand 
body surrendered "all sovereignty within 
its territory." On this point George W. 
Warvelle of Chicago, representing the Im- 
perial Grand Council of Illinois, declares 
that " no such record exists." The "State- 
ment," published by the Imperial Grand 
Council of Illinois in 1895, describes the 
Sovereign Grand body of 1875 as merely 
a "confederation" of State Grand Councils 
formed to "curb the pretensions of the 
mother Grand Council of England, who, 
through her Intendent General, was assum- 
ing powers which were deemed inimical to 
the American bodies." In support of this 
it quotes from Section 6 of the Constitution 
of the Sovereign Grand Council, United 
States of America, in part as follows: "It 
(the latter body) can exercise no doubtful 
powers nor any powers by implication 
merely;" . . . that all powers not ex- 
pressly delegated "are reserved to the 
Grand Councils and subordinate Con- 
claves," etc. ; it should have jurisdiction 
over "all Conclaves established by itself," 
. . . "where there is no Grand Council 
established;". . . but "no power of dis- 
cipline," etc., "over the State Grand 
Councils," . . . "nor any authority to 
suspend the proceedings of any State Grand 
Council," etc. 

Thomas Leahy, Registrar General of the 
Sovereign Grand Council of the United 
States, writes : 



This statement had not been made prior to 1895, 
and was never thought of until we had taken ac- 
tion to abolish the State Grand bodies in the inter- 
est of the general good of the Order. The first 
Article of the Constitution, Section 1, as presented 
by the Chairman of the Committee on Revision of 
the. Constitution, Charles K. Francis (now the 
leader of the opponents to the Sovereign Grand 
Council), is in conflict with the statement by the 
Illinois people. It reads : "Sec. 1. The Supreme 
Governing Body in the United States of the Red 
Cross of Constantine, Knights, etc., shall be styled, 
etc." Is this section intended to imply a confed- 
eration? It recognizes a "Supreme Governing 
Body " and that of the Sovereign Grand Council. 

The importance of this lies in the fact that 
the Illinois, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, 
Vermont, and Maine Grand Councils con- 
tinue to maintain independent sovereign- 
ties and deny the right of the Sovereign 
Grand Council, United States of America, 
to claim or exercise sole, sovereign jurisdic- 
tion for the Constantine Orders of Knight- 
hood in this country. The independent 
Grand Councils explain that a primary ob- 
ject of the confederation of State Councils 
was to acquire jurisdiction over the " un- 
occupied " portions of the United States 
then claimed by the Grand Council of 
England, and that the right of the Sover- 
eign Grand Council, United States of Amer- 
ica, to occupy American territory not under 
the jurisdiction of State Grand bodies was 
practically all that was made over to the 
Sovereign body. The " Memorabilia " sets 
forth that the Imperial Grand Council 
of England waived its right of sovereignty 
over any portion of the United States in 
1877, and entered into "a treaty of amity" 
with the Sovereign Grand Council, United 
States of America, in which it recognized the 
sovereign authority of the latter throughout 
this country. "The Statement" replies 
that when the Sovereign Grand Council of 
the United States was organized in 1875, 
"it was repudiated by the Grand Imperial 
Council of England," but that in 1877 two 
men, the Sovereign Grand Master of the 
Sovereign Grand Council, United States of 
America, and the Chief Intendent General 



84 



FREEMASONRY: KNIGHTS OF ROME AND RED CROSS OF CONSTANTINE 



for the United States, for England, con- 
cluded a treaty with the English (mother) 
Grand Council, " to unite into one Supreme 
Grand body all Grand and subordinate 
bodies in the United States." It is further 
declared in "The Statement " that within 
a year the treaty was " repudiated " by the 
English Grand Council, notwithstanding 
which the Sovereign Grand Council, United 
States of America, continues to point to the 
treaty as the basis and justification of its 
existence. In reply to this, officials of the 
Sovereign Grand Council deny that the 
treaty has been repudiated. The records of 
the Sovereign Grand Council, United States 
of America, seem to confirm "The State- 
ment" in its charge that the body was 
practically dormant between 1880 and 1891, 
when, as explained in "The Statement,'' 
"several members" met at Koch ester, 
N. Y., and "assumed to open a Sovereign 
Grand Council and transact business." 
One year later it held a Conclave at 
Bloomsburg, Pa., and claimed exclusive 
authority over the Constantine Orders 
throughout the United States, basing the 
claim on the treaty of 1877. The Sover- 
eign Grand Council has continued to hold 
annual sessions ever since, but Imperial 
Grand Councils in Pennsylvania, Illinois, 
Vermont, Maine, and elsewhere refuse to 
recognize it. 

All of the State Grand Councils named, 
and the Sovereign body as well, declare that 
they have cordial relations with the English 
Grand Council. The total membership of 
the Sovereign Grand Council, it is claimed, 
exceeds 1,600. Including the five indepen- 
dent Imperial Grand Councils and those in 
Canada and the United Kingdom, it is esti- 
mated there are 5,000 American and foreign 
Knights of Rome and of the Red Cross of 
Constantine. On the introduction of the 
Order into the United States, Knights Tem- 
plars and thirty-second degree Scottish Rite 
Freemasons alone were admitted to it, but 
some years later Royal Arch Masons were 
rendered eligible. The Sovereign Grand 



Council changed its rules in 1897 so that 
Master Masons may become members, thus 
apparently seeking to popularize the Order. 
The view taken by the independent Grand 
Councils seems to be that there are enough 
popular Masonic Orders, and that this one 
should constitute "a purely intellectual 
branch of Freemasonry . . . devoted 
wholly to the cultivation of the higher fac- 
ulties," rather than to gaining recruits. 

Four Orders are conferred by Grand 
Councils of Knights of the Red Cross of 
Rome and Constantine — the first, the one 
having that title ; the second, the Order of 
Knights of the Holy Sepulchre ; the third, 
the Order of Knights of St. John the Evan- 
gelist, and, finally, as a mark of especial 
honor for high Masonic officials or for zeal 
in Masonic work, the Order of Knight of 
the Grand Cross, membership in which is 
limited to fifty in each country. In addi- 
tion to these, the Order of Holy Wisdom, or 
Knight Templar Priest, is conferred by 
some Grand Councils. It is said to have 
been instituted in 1686, and when conferred 
in "old Encampments which practised the 
seven steps of chivalry " was the ceremony 
for constituting chaplains. After the re- 
organization of the Chivalric Orders it be- 
came an appendant to the Order of Con- 
stantine. The " seven steps of chivalry" 
are classified in " Masonry in Europe," by 
Witter, Berlin, 1832, as follows: "1st, 
Knights of Rome and of the Red Cross of 
Constantine and Knight of the Grand Cross, 
the oldest Order of Chivalry; 2d, Knights 
Templars ; 3d, Knights of Malta ; 4th, 
Knights of the Holy Sepulchre, appended 
to which is the Order of Knights of St. 
John of Palestine, or St. John the Evangel- 
ist ; 5 th, Rose Croix ; 6th, Templar Priest- 
hood ; and 7th, Commander Elect, Knight 
of Kadosch. No one American Masonic 
body confers all of these Orders. The sec- 
ond and third are under the jurisdiction of 
the Grand Encampment of Knights Tem- 
plars of the United States ; the fifth and 
seventh are controlled by the Supreme Coun- 



FREEMASONRY: KNIGHTS OF ROME AND RED CROSS OF CONSTANTINE 



85 



cils of the Ancient, Accepted Scottish Rite 
of Freemasonry for the Southern and North- 
ern Masonic Jurisdictions, United States of 
America, respectively ; the fourth and sixth 
by Imperial Grand Councils and by the Sov- 
ereign Grand Council of Knights of Eome 
and of the Eed Cross of Constantine ; and 
the first by the Supreme Grand Chapter of 
the Grand Cross of Constantine, United 
States of America, composed of representa- 
tives of the independent Sovereign Grand 
Councils, and also by the Sovereign Grand 
Council, United States of America. 

The Supreme Grand Chapter of the 
Grand Cross of Constantine, of which 
Charles K. Francis, Philadelphia, is Regis- 
trar General, is the highest body of the 
Order in the country recognized by the 
independent Sovereign Grand Councils. It 
was organized June 21, 1877, under au- 
thority granted the late Colonel W. J. B. 
McLeod Moore, 33°, Grand Prior of Knights 
Templars of Canada, who established the 
Order of Constantine in America by author- 
ity received from the Earl of Bective, then 
Grand Sovereign of the Grand Imperial 
Council of England. The Supreme Grand 
Chapter is to the independent State Im- 
perial Councils what the Supreme Council, 
Ancient, Accepted Scottish Rite is to the 
bodies holding allegiance to it, retaining 
exclusive right to confer the Order of the 
Grand Cross, as does the latter the right to 
confer the thirty-third degree. Among the 
officers and members of the Supreme Grand 
Chapter of the Grand Cross of Constantine 
are : John Corson Smith, 33°, of Illinois, 
its Grand Sovereign (Past Grand Master of 
Masons, Past Grand High Priest of Royal 
Arch Masons, Past Grand Commander of 
Knights Templars); Josiah H. Drummond, 
33°, of Maine, its Grand Viceroy (Past 
Grand Master of Masons, Past General 
Grand High Priest of the General Grand 
Chapter, Past Grand Commander of Knights 
Templars, Past Sovereign Grand Commander 
of the Supreme Council, 33°, A. A. S. R., 
Northern Jurisdiction); Gilbert W. Barnard, 



33°, of Illinois (Grand Secretary of the 
various Masonic Grand Bodies in Illinois); 
Marquis F. King, 33°, of Maine (Past 
Grand Master of Masons); Hugh McCurdy, 
33°, of Michigan (Past Grand Master of 
Masons, Past Grand High Priest of Royal 
Arch Masons, Past Grand Master of the 
Grand Encampment of Knights Templars); 
Abraham T. Metcalf, 33°, of Michigan 
(Past Grand Master of Masons); Francis 
A. Blades, 33°,D. Burn ham Tracy, 33°, and 
Nicholas Coulson, 33°, of Michigan; Marsh 
0. Perkins, 33°, of Vermont (Past Grand 
Master of Masons); George 0. Tyler, 33°, 
of Vermont (Past Grand Commander of 
Knights Templars); Silas W. Cummings, 
33°, of Vermont (Past Grand Commander 
of Knights Templars); D.N.Nicholson, 33°, 
of Vermont ; Millard F. Hicks, 33°, and 
Edward P. Burnham, 33°, of Maine ; 
Seranus Bowen, 33°, of Massachusetts 
(Grand Secretary of the Grand Chapter of 
Royal Arch Masons); Benjamin W. Rowell, 
33°, of Massachusetts (Grand Recorder of 
Grand Commandery of Knights Templars); 
Caleb Saunders, 33°, Massachusetts (Past 
Grand Commander of Knights Templars); 
Frederick Webber, 33°, Washington, D. C. 
(Grand Secretary General of Supreme 
Council, 33°, A. A. S. R., Southern Juris- 
diction); Edward T. Schultz of Maryland 
(Masonic Historian, Past Grand High Priest 
of Royal Arch Masons, Past Grand Com- 
mander of Knights Templars); Thomas R. 
Patton, 33°, of Pennsylvania (Grand Treas- 
urer of Grand Lodge and Grand Chapter); 
Charles Gary, 33°, of Pennsylvania (Grand 
Secretary of Grand Chapter of Royal Arch 
Masons and Grand Master of Royal and 
Select Masters); John Sartain, 33°, Penn- 
sylvania ; Edward S. Wyckofi 2 , 33°, Penn- 
sylvania ; Edward B. Spencer, Pennsylvania 
(Grand Scribe of Grand Chapter of Royal 
Arch Masons and Past Grand Commander 
of Knights Templars) ; Andrew J. Kauff- 
man, Pennsylvania (Past Grand Commander 
of Knights Templars); Harvey A. McKillip, 
33°, Pennsylvania (Past Grand Master of 



86 



FREEMASONRY: SOCIETY OF MODERN ROSICRUCIANS 



Royal and Select Masters); Charles K. 
Francis, 33°, Pennsylvania (Past Grand 
Master of Royal and Select Masters). Charles 
F. Matier is Grand Representative of the 
Supreme Grand Chapter of the Grand Cross, 
United States of America, near the Grand 
Imperial Council of England, and Lord 
Saltsun is Grand Representative near the 
Grand Imperial Council of Scotland. 
At the meeting of the Supreme Grand 
Chapter at Boston, September 21, 1897, 
appropriate tributes were paid the mem- 
ories of deceased members, Charles T. 
McClenachan, 33°, Masonic Historian 
of the Grand Lodge of New York ; 
Anthony E. Stocker, 33°, Pennsylvania 
(Past Grand Commander of Knights Tem- 
plars); and Daniel Spry, 33°, Grand Repre- 
sentative near the Grand Imperial Council 
of Canada ; and the Registrar General read 
the following letter from the Masonic His- 
torian, W. J. Hnghan, Torquay, England, 
himself a Knight of the Grand Cross : 

Your invitation to attend the Supreme Grand 
Chapter of the United States of America just at hand. 
I cannot attend, but wish it were possible, so as to grip 
you by the hand, and others of my valued brethren. 

These personal references would seem to 
indicate that many of the more distinguished 
Freemasons in the country oppose the 
claim of the Sovereign Grand Council to 
exclusive jurisdiction over the Constantine 
Orders in the United States. In reply to 
an inquiry as to the status of the Order of 
Rome and the Red Cross of Constantine in 
the United States, C. F. Matier, Registrar 
General of the English (mother) Imperial 
Grand Council, wrote as follows, September 
15, 1897 : 

I am directed and have the honor to say that a 
conference of the Imperial Grand Councils of Eng- 
land and Scotland will be held in Edinburgh in 
April, 1898, and that the whole question of the 
position of the bodies claiming to be the supreme 
governing bodies in America will be fully con- 
sidered. As it is believed that representatives 
from the U. S. A. will be present, it is sincerely 
hoped that the conference will settle the cause of 
disagreement in the Order forever. 



Freemasonry: Society of Modern Ros- 
icrucians. — Founded more than a score of 
years ago, according to the account pub- 
lished by the High Council of the Societatis 
Rosicrucianae, United States of America, by 
Robert Went worth Little, of England, upon 
"the remains of an old German association 
which had come under his observation dur- 
ing some of his researches." The Angli- 
cized organization was created as a literary 
society, to collect " archaeological and his- 
torical subjects pertaining to Freemasonry " 
and secret societies in general; to stimulate 
search for historical truth, particularly with 
reference to Freemasonry; and to revive in- 
terest in the work of certain scientists and 
scholars. In this effort Mr. Little, a dis- 
tinguished Freemason, was assisted by such 
well-known members of the Craft as William 
Robert Woodman, Thomas B. Whytehead, 
William James Hughan, and Cuthbert E. 
Peck in England, the Earl of Kintore and 
Robert Smith Brown in Scotland, Prince 
Rhodokanakis and Professor Emmanuel 
Gellanis in Greece; and Colonel W. J. B. 
Moore in the Dominion of Canada. Rosi- 
crucian societies were promptly established 
in England, Scotland, Greece, and, later, 
in the Dominion of Canada. Like or- 
ganizations may also be found in Ireland, 
India, China, and in Tunis. In 1879 the 
High Council of Scotland established a 
Rosicrucian Society at Philadelphia, and 
in 1880 one each at New York, Boston, 
and Baltimore, representatives from which 
met at Boston on September 21 the same 
year, and established a High Council for the 
United States, to hold jurisdiction within 
the same and regulate the relations of the 
society here with other independent jurisdic- 
tions. The constitution adopted provides 
that no aspirants shall be admitted except 
Master Masons of good moral character, in- 
telligent, " free from prejudice, and anxious 
for instruction." Every f rater is required 
to choose a Latin motto, which is to be ap- 
pended to his signature in all communica- 
tions to the Society, which shall be registered 



FREEMASONRY: ROYAL ORDER OF SCOTLAND 



87 



and never be changed, and no two fraters 
are permitted to have the same motto. The 
Society, which is secret in form, confers four 
grades composing the first order, and three 
in the second, in colleges; and two grades in 
the third order, in High Council only. The 
grades are as follows: First, Zelator; sec- 
ond, Theoricus; third, Practicus; fourth, 
Philosophus; fifth, Adeptus Junior; sixth, 
Adeptus Senior; seventh, Adeptus Exemp- 
tus; eighth, Magister Templi (official) ; and, 
ninth, Chief Adept, held by appointment. 
Colleges are limited to seventy-two active 
members. In the publication referred to, 
Charles E. Meyer of Philadelphia is named 
as Supreme Magus ; Albert G. Goodale, 
New York, Senior Substitute Magus; Al- 
fred F. Chapman, Boston, Junior Substitute 
Magus; Thomas J. Shryock, Baltimore, 
Treasurer General; and Charles T. McClena- 
chan, New York, Secretary General. These 
gentlemen, some of whom are dead, may be 
regarded as the founders of the Modern 
Eosicrucian Society in the United States. 

The work and purposes of modern Eosi- 
crucian Societies only faintly resemble an- 
cient Eosicrucianism, as the latter is often 
understood. Neither, so far as learned, do 
they claim any connection with the latter 
beyond what may be inferred from the state- 
ment that the English Society was founded 
on the "remains of an old German asso- 
ciation." 

The Eosicrucian Society of the seven- 
teenth century was supposed to be in some 
way related to Freemasonry, which was prob- 
ably an error, as the former embodied a sys- 
tem of hermetic philosophy, while the Free- 
masons at that time were nearly all operative 
masons and builders. There is no relation 
whatever between the rose and the cross of 
the Eosicrucians and like emblems in the 
Masonic degree of the Eose Croix, which 
was invented about the middle of the eigh- 
teenth century. The Eosicrucians employed 
a number of so-called Masonic emblems, but 
they interpreted them differently. The 
ancient philosophic sect took its rise in 



Germany shortly after the appearance of the 
religious, mystical, and philosophic works, 
"Fama Fraternis," "Chemical Nuptials," 
and other books by John Valentine Andrae, 
in which he recounted the adventures of 
"Christian Eosenkreuz," a fictitious per- 
sonage, whom he makes the founder of the 
pretended Society of Eosicrucians. It is 
pointed out by Mackey that so great was 
the effect of these publications that a secret 
philosophic sect of Eosicrucians was formed, 
many members of which were found in Ger- 
many, France, and England in the seven- 
teenth century. The publication by the 
American Eosicrucian Society refers the 
origin of its ancient prototype to the thir- 
teenth century, which is manifestly an error. 
No association by the name has been traced 
back of Andrae 's account of a fictitious so- 
ciety of that title. It was not strange that 
the general public of the seventeenth cen- 
tury and later should have attributed sor- 
cery, alchemy, and other occult gifts to the 
Eosicrucians, but at this day the names of 
such Eosicrucians as John Baptist von Iiel- 
mont, physician; Eobert Fludd, physician 
and philosopher, who died in 1637, and 
Elias Ashmole, the English antiquary, 
among many others who were prominent, 
would suggest that they were leaders among 
mystical and philosophic thinkers two hun- 
dred and fifty years ago. 

Freemasonry : Royal Order of Scot- 
land. — A Masonic Order of Knighthood 
conferred upon Eoyal Arch Masons. It 
consists of two degrees or orders, the Eoyal 
Orders of Herodem and of the Eosy Cross. 
The Eoyal Order of Herodem of Kilwinning, 
Scotland, which by its own legend is said 
to have taken its rise in the time of David 
I., King of Scotland, presents the sacrifice 
of the Messiah, whereupon the candidate is 
sent into the world to search for the lost 
word. Its traditions state that it was estab- 
lished at*Icomkill, Scotland, afterward at 
Kilwinning, where Eobert Bruce, King of 
Scotland, presided in person, and in 1314 
"reinstated the Order," admitting into it 



88 



FREEMASONRY: ROYAL ORDER OF SCOTLAND 



such Knights Templars as had fled to 
Scotland after the dissolution of the Tem- 
plars and under his protection had taken 
part iu the battle of Bannockburn. Its 
ritual is in antiquated Anglo-Saxon verse. 
The Order of St. Andrew of the Thistle, 
afterward amalgamated with the Eoyal 
Order of Herodem, was instituted by Eobert 
Bruce, King of Scotland, on July 24, 1314, 
to be conferred, it is said, upon Scottish 
Freemasons who fought with him, among 
thirty thousand others, at the battle of 
Bannockburn, against an English army of 
one hundred thousand men. "At about that 
time," says Thory, "he formed the Eoyal 
Grand Lodge of the Order of Herodem, re- 
serving to himself and his successors forever 
the title of Grand Master." The Order of 
Herodem is said to have been introduced 
into Kilwinning at about the time that 
Freemasonry appeared in Scotland, and 
Mackey regards it probable that the Order 
was designed to make plain the rites and 
symbols used by the Christian builders in a 
truly catholic manner, adapted to all who 
acknowledge one Supreme God, whether 
Jew or Gentile. 

The second degree of the Eoyal Order of 
Scotland, the Order of the Eosy Cross, is an 
Order of Civil Knighthood, which, it is 
stated, was founded by Eobert Bruce after 
the battle of Bannockburn, and conferred 
upon certain Freemasons who had assisted 
him. It may only be conferred by the 
Grand Master, his Deputy, or a Provincial 
Grand Master. The number who may re- 
ceive it is limited. Formerly it was sixty- 
three, who were to be Scotchmen, but the 
number has since been increased, and dis- 
tinguished Freemasons in almost all coun- 
tries may now receive it upon being 
"adopted" as Scottish (not Scottish Eite) 
Freemasons. It has also been claimed that 
the Order of the Eosy Cross was practically 
made up of the ancient Order of the This- 
tle, and that the ceremonial of initiation 
into the latter was borrowed bodily. In 
auy event, the Eosy Cross comes more nearly 



to being a genuine Order of Knighthood 
than almost any other conferred in connec- 
tion with Freemasonry, and in it is found 
the intimate connection between the sword 
and the trowel which is referred to in sev- 
eral others. Its ritual is distinctly Chris- 
tian. As in the Order of Herodem, the 
office of Grand Master is vested in the King 
of Scotland (now of Great Britain), and in 
his absence a seat is always kept vacant for 
him in whatever country a Chapter is held. 
Owing to the similarity between names, the 
Order of the Eosy Cross and that of the 
Eose Croix of the Ancient and Accepted 
Scottish Eite, the belief has prevailed that 
the latter, in some way, is based upon the 
former. This appeared to be true, because 
both claimed to have had their seats of gov- 
ernment at Kilwinning, near the Irish Sea, 
in Scotland, because both gave a Christian 
interpretation to the three symbolic degrees 
of Freemasonry, and because the names of 
both bear a striking resemblance. As a 
matter of fact, there is no further similarity 
and no connection whatever. Their cere- 
monials and essentials are entirely different. 

Provincial Grand Lodges of the Eoyal Or- 
der of Scotland, one of the oldest continu- 
ous append ent Orders of Freemasonry, are 
now held in Glasgow and Aberdeenshire, 
Scotland ; Yorkshire, Northumberland, Dur- 
ham, Cumberland, Lancashire, Cheshire, 
and London, England ; Western India ; 
China; New Brunswick, Prince Edward Is- 
land, Ontario, and Quebec; Natal, Cape 
Colony, Switzerland, and the United States, 
where chairs are always kept vacant for the 
hereditary Grand Master. 

The Eoyal Order of Scotland was intro- 
duced into the United States at Washing- 
ton, D. C, May 4, 1878, in the rooms of 
the Supreme Council of the Ancient, Ac- 
cepted Scottish Eite for the Southern Ma- 
sonic Jurisdiction, United States of Amer- 
ica, when the Provincial Grand Lodge for 
the United States was instituted by virtue 
of a charter issued by the Grand Lodge at 
Edinburgh, Scotland, in which Sir Albert 




5 H 
H 



o 

i-l <j 



90 



FREEMASONRY: STATISTICS OF MEMBERSHIP 



Pike is named as the Provincial Grand Mas- 
ter; Josiah Hayden Drummond, Maine, 
Deputy Provincial Grand Master; Albert 
Gallatin Mackey, then of the District of 
Columbia, Senior Provincial Grand War- 
den; Samuel Crocker Lawrence, Massachu- 
setts, Junior Provincial Grand Warden; 
William Morton Ireland, of the District of 
Columbia, Provincial Grand Secretary; Rob- 
ert McOoskry Graham, New York, Provin- 
cial Grand Treasurer ; John Robin Mc- 
Daniel, Virginia, Provincial Grand Sword- 
Bearer; Vincent Lombard Hurlbut, Illinois, 
Provincial Grand Banner-Bearer; Enoch 
Terry Carson, Ohio, Provincial Grand Mari- 
schal; Henry L. Palmer, Wisconsin, Deputy 
Provincial Grand Marischal ; Charles Roome, 
New York, Senior Provincial Grand Stew- 
ard, and James Cunningham Batchelor, 
Louisiana, Provincial Grand Steward. The 
meetings of the Provincial Grand Lodge are 
held annually, at the same time and place 
as the Supreme Councils of the Scottish Rite 
for the Southern and the Northern Jurisdic- 
tion of the United States alternately. The 
present Provincial Grand Master is Josiah 
Hayden Drummond of Portland, Me., who 
succeeded to that office upon the death of 
Albert Pike in 1891. The secretariat, with 
the records, files, etc., is at the Cathedral 
of the Scottish Rite, No. 1007 G Street, N. 
W., Washington, D. C. The present mem- 
bership of the Provincial Grand Lodge of 
the United States is 284. 

Freemasonry : Statistics of Member- 
ship. — Among the long list of secret soci- 
eties, the names of which are familiar to 
newspaper readers, there are eleven which 
may be classed as international, statistics of 
membership of which are presented in a 
separate exhibit. These data, the most 
comprehensive of the kind ever prepared, 
have been compiled through the coopera- 
tion of representatives of each of them. 
Unusually full particulars concerning the 
number of Freemasons in various coun- 
tries, states, and provinces throughout the 
world are to be credited to the researches of 



Stephen Berry and Josiah H. Drummond, 
Portland, Me. ; the late Charles T. McClena- 
chan of New York; to the Grand Secreta- 
ries of Grand Lodges and other Masonic 
Grand bodies throughout the United States 
and British North America; to Grand Sec- 
retaries of nearly every foreign Grand Lodge; 
and many others distinguished as Masonic 
students or historians, with whom corre- 
spondence has been conducted. Similar 
recognition is due to Secretaries of Supreme 
or Grand bodies and other representatives 
of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, 
Ancient Order of Foresters, Independent 
Order of Good Templars, Grand United Or- 
der of Odd Fellows (membership of which 
in the United States is composed of negroes), 
Independent Order of Rechabites, Ancient 
Order of Hibernians, Sons of Temperance, 
United Ancient Order of Druids, BVnai 
B'rith, and the Loyal Orange Institution. 
The Freemasons are shown to be the most 
numerous and by far the most widely dis- 
tributed throughout the world. If non-af- 
filiated Freemasons were counted, the total 
membership of the Masonic Fraternity would 
undoubtedly amount to about 2,000,000, be- 
cause those able to judge estimate that out of 
the whole number of living members of the 
Craft, about 40 per cent, are non-affiliates. 
The total of 11,000 Freemasons in Cuba re- 
fers to the period just before the outbreak 
of the revolution prior to the Spanish- 
American War, and includes non-affiliates. 
No one of the ten fraternities, statistics of 
membership of which are compared, with 
those of the Freemasons, is very widely dis- 
tributed over the globe. In contrast with 
an exhibit which points to Masonic Lodges 
in almost every civilized part of the world 
except Russia, Austria, and part of Asia 
Minor, accompanying comparative statistics 
show only three other, out of ten interna- 
tional secret societies, with anything like a 
cosmopolitan character — the Ancient Order 
of Foresters, Independent Order of Good 
Templars, and the Independent Order of 
Odd Fellows. The stronghold of the An- 



FREEMASONRY: STATISTICS OF MEMBERSHIP 



91 



GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF MEMBERSHIP OF ELEVEN INTERNATIONAL 

SECRET SOCIETIES. 



Membership 
1895-1896. 


"P 3 

■£ s 

< 


r3 

O 

3O • 

©Z 2 

■g o " 

M, ~ ^ 


o "" 


go 

p o J. 
_4<» C 

= 1^ 

o 


tJDo 

jssi 


. 02 

3 5 

■ Q £ 

IE 

3* 


o ® ^ 

-is «„_ 
"3*3 c 

t3 


4 

n 


-§ o - 

3 s- =3 

o ■" o 
30S 


^3 
"SO 

ill 

ST £ "B 


3 




16,000 
14,200 


158,788 

22,737 

523 

1,422 


33,390 

30,668 


72,039 
214 


100.000 


165,000 


17.000 


35,000 


J- 4,000] 


745,508 
33,460 


735,437 




F 383,000 




31,487 










700 
















125 


3,000 






! 


I 










Totals 


30,200 183.470 


64,058 


72,253 

r 

• 704^ 


483,000 


165,000 


17,000 


35,000 


4,000 


779,093 


770,624 




700 




















200 






















150 






















150 




35 





































Totals 


35 


















1,275 


Cuba 
















264 


11,000 


Hayti 


;■ » 


* 














j- 2,500 




















Lesser Antilles 


















400 


Porto Rico 




















350 




193 


391 
















250 
















150 




233 


















100 




















100 
























Totals 


437 


391 














264 


14,850 














12,000 
3,000 





















Venezuela 




















2,200 


Argentina 





















2,000 


Chile 


















154 
54 


600 




39 
28 

222 
















600 


U. S. Colombia 
















300 


The (3) Guineas 


















250 


Paraguay 


















100 


Bolivia 




















100 






















Totals 


274 

708.582 

54,852 

1.628 






704 
92,000 










208 

3,193 
89 


21,150 
335.000 


England and Wales 


56,167 

35,886 

5,92? 

1.723 


130,000 




760,000 


50,000 


66,000 
2,000 


1 

1- 2,000 


216,000 






Germany 


44,000 














27,000 




B20 














20,000 


Italy 
















100 

132 

600 

C 243 


16,000 


Holland 


480 














5,000 




3.504 
73.321 












4,000 
4.000 






























3,500 


Portugal 






, 














3,500 


Switzerland 




476 














500 


2,900 
















2,000 




















1 500 




















1.000 















400 






















200 


Malta 


130 


















150 






















Totals 


766,192 
49 


177.004 

1 
!- 6,016 

J 


30,000 

-i 


92.000 

1 f 

1- 300-j 
J I 


760,000 


50,000 


68,000 


2,000 

I ! 

h 


216,000 


4,857 


470,150 
7,000 


East Indian Islands 












1,500 

1,000 

400 




























34 












250 
















Totals 


49 


6,016 




300 








700 




34 


10,150 









C— Sweden only. 



F— British North America. 



92 



FREEMASONRY: STATISTICS OF MEMBERSHIP 



GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF MEMBERSHIP OP ELEVEN INTERNATIONAL 

SECRET SOCIETIES.— Continued. ' 



Membership 
1895-1896. 


j3 £ 

O o 
"S O 
S3pR 

< 


T3 
O 

*» o 
fiO • 

s ° ^ 

IIS 


53 . 

o § 
£ 53 
o a 

02 


r3 

so 

s s- o 

o 


MO 
g "el 

2§ 

1-} 


II 


s 53 • 
Og 

"S '53 o 



m 


rg 0,0 

a u g 


T3 

||| 

<o 53 o 

O S- O 
M 


9 

si* 

HfflO 
° OS 

-3 




2,451 


1 
- 7,236 


r 

J 

I 


r 

- 190- 
J 








r 

1- 300- 






6,000 
500 




























2,000 
300 


















70 








250 














200 


Azores " 


Incl. in 

Li beria . 












50 


Tunis " 












i5a 
















150 


Morocco 














100 


Senegal 


Incl. in 
Liberia. 












100 


St. Helena 












100 














Totals 


2,521 
31,188 


7,236 
!■ 20,081 


9,944 


190 

16,000 








300 






9,900 




( 




18,000 




1 19,433 






i 








26,000 


New Zealand 


9,862 


1:::: :. 


























Totals 


41,050 


20,081 


9,944 


16,000 






18,000 






19,433 


26,000 


New Caledonia 










100 
























100 




28 
30 


















179 


700 


Other Oceana 










































Totals 


58 


















179 


900 






















Grand Totals 


880,707 
D 


397,043 
A 


104,002 


221,447 
E 


1,443,000 
G 


215,000 


103,000 


38,000 


220,000 


912,500 
B 


1,324,929 



A— Includes 2,200 in Iceland, 100 in Isle of Man, and 545 in Channel Islands— in all, 2,845. 

B— Includes 108,432 Daughters of Rebekah in United States. 

D— Including 19,405 honorary members at large and 20,486 women members and contributing widows. 

E— Including 40,000 Daughters of Ruth in the United States. 

G— Includes 200,000 in other British possessions. 



cient Order of Foresters (the parent Forestic 
body) is naturally in the United Kingdom, 
only one-eighth of its membership being 
found elsewhere, principally in Australia, 
Tasmania, New Zealand, the United States, 
and Canada, with very small totals in South 
Africa, Spain, Holland, the north coast of 
South America, and some of the larger West 
India islands. The Independent Order of 
Good Templars is strongest, of course, in 
the United States, but very nearly as strong 
in Europe, and constitutes the only large 
international secret society excepting the 
Freemasons which is widely distributed. 
It also has a large following in Norway and 
Sweden, Denmark, Germany, and Switzer- 
land, Mexico, India, the Orient, Africa, 
Australia, and New Zealand. The Inde- 



pendent Order of Odd Fellows has more 
members than the Masonic fraternity in the 
United States, but while the latter finds 
only one-half its total membership here, 
96 per cent, of all the members of this Or- 
der of Odd Fellows is in this country. . The 
largest foreign membership of the latter is 
in Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand, 
where the total is nearly 20,000. In Ger- 
many, where the Order is growing, the total 
is about 3,200; but in France, Italy, Den- 
mark, Switzerland, Holland, and Sweden, 
Mexico, Hayti, Peru, Chile, Japan, and the 
Hawaiian Islands there are very few Odd 
Fellows. Less than two-thirds of the Sons 
of Temperance are found in the United 
States and Canada, less than one-third in 
the United Kingdom, and about one-tenth 



UNITED STATES 



OOM.CANADfe 



UNITED 
KINGDOM 

AND 

IRELAND 



GRAPHIC CHART SHOWING THE RELATIVE MASONIC MEMBERSHIP IN VARIOUS 

COUNTRIES. 



94 



FREEMASONS: DISTINGUISHED AMERICANS 



in Australia and New Zealand. About 40 
per cent, of the members of the Grand 
United Order of Odd Fellows (the parent 
English Order of Odd Fellows) are mem- 
bers of English, Scotch, and Irish Lodges; 
nearly 50 per cent, (negroes) are in the 
United States; about 8 per cent, in Aus- 
tralia and New Zealand, and the remainder 
widely scattered, totals for South Africa, 
India, West Indies, and Central and South 
America being very small. More than 
two-thirds of the members of the Ancient 
Order of Druids are found in the land of its 
birth, the United Kingdom; about one-sixth 
in Australia and New Zealand, and nearly 
as many in the United States. The Inde- 
pendent Order of Eechabites reports that 
2 per cent, of its membership is in the 
United States, and the rest in the United 
Kingdom. The total membership of the 
United Ancient Order of Hibernians, in the 
United States and in the United Kingdom, 
is difficult to obtain ; but the figures given, 
best obtainable estimates of representative 
members, show that nearly 80 per cent, of 
the Order is in the United States. The 
B'nai B'rith, smallest of iuternational secret 
societies in the list, numbers only about 
38,000 members altogether, of which 35,000 
are in the United States, 700 in Asia Minor 
and elsewhere in the far East, and 300 in 
Africa. The surprisingly large number of 
members of the Loyal Orange Institution is 
given on the authority of a prominent mem- 
ber, high in official rank. A total of 100,- 
000 in the United States does not look large, 
but it is difficult to believe there are 383,- 
000 Orangemen in British North America, 
and it is still more unexpected to learn 
there are as many as 760,000 in the United 
Kingdom, and 200,000 in British posses- 
sions " not specified." 

These eleven societies are seen to have 
aggregated nominally 5,859,623 members in 
1895-96, or (omitting honorary and women 
members of some of them) about 5,660,000. 
Allowing for those counted twice or more 
times, owing to membership in more than 



one organization, these eleven international 
fraternities number probably 3,500,000 adult 
male members, in 100,000 Lodges, scattered 
along the paths of commerce and civilization. 
While the sun never sets upon the Brit- 
ish flag, it is also true that somewhere east 
of the horizon of daylight there is always 
a Masonic Lodge at labor, and, in English- 
speaking countries in particular, Lodges of 
other international fraternities at work to 
relieve the wants of the suffering and dis- 
tressed and to cultivate the ties of brother- 
hood. 

Freemasons : Distinguished Ameri- 
cans. — Within a few years after the forma- 
tion of a Masonic Grand Lodge at London, 
in 1717, many members of the nobility, 
representatives of the professions and other 
learned men became members of the Craft, 
and between 1725 and 1735 Lodges of Eng- 
lish origin were established in many of the 
larger cities of Continental Europe, where, 
for a few years, they were composed almost 
exclusively of men of rank and learning. 
The growth of the Fraternity, as is well 
known, has long been along the lines of uni- 
versal brotherhood, and even two hundred 
and fifty years ago its membership included 
distinguished men in various stations of life. 
In almost all European countries the Craft 
to this day continues to enjoy the patronage 
and cooperation of the reigning families and 
of the nobility, notably in Great Britain, 
Holland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and 
Germany. The like was true in France 
under the Bourbons, in the Napoleonic 
regimes, and under the Republic. Free- 
masonry also continues to enjoy great pop- 
ularity among the followers of those who 
created a united Italy. In England the 
Fraternity is presided over by the Prince of 
Wales, and in Sweden and Norway by King- 
Oscar. In Denmark the Crown Prince is 
at the head of the Grand Orient. The late 
Emperor Frederick was Grand Master of 
German Freemasons from 1855 until his 
death. The Emperor William, although 
a Freemason, has not attended Lodge 



FREEMASONS: DISTINGUISHED AMERICANS 



95 



meetings since he became Emperor. In 
Austria, Freemasonry is not patronized by 
the aristocracy or the reigning family, nor 
in Russia or Belgium; but in Holland the 
nobility are nearly all members of the Craft. 

A list of the names of eminent foreigners 
who have been or are Freemasons would 
include hundreds of other notables besides 
Richard Steele, Lord Byron, Robert Burns, 
Voltaire, Montesquieu, Garibaldi, Victor 
Emmanuel, Wellington, Bliicher, many of 
Napoleon's generals, and the late King 
Kalakaua of the Hawaiian Islands, and it 
will interest students of the progress of the 
Craft in the United States to read the names 
of some of the more distinguished Ameri- 
cans who are credibly reported to be or to 
have been Freemasons. 

The character of those whose names follow 
sufficiently attests the extent to which Free- 
masonry has been linked with the careers 
of prominent Americans, notwithstanding 
it is not true, as has often been stated, 
that " one-half the Presidents of the United 
States," and that " all but four of the sign- 
ers of the Declaration of Independence were 
Freemasons." Following the identification 
of Benjamin Franklin with the Craft early 
in the last century are the names of Jeremy 
Gridley, Attorney-General of the Province of 
Massachusetts, Grand Master of St. John's 
Provincial Grand Lodge in 1755; and James 
Otis, Master for the Crown in the Prov- 
ince of Massachusetts, who argued against 
the famous writs of assistance in 1761, when 
" Independence was born. " The only sign- 
ers of the Declaration of Independence who 
were Freemasons, so far as Grand Lodge 
records show, were Benjamin Franklin, 
John Hancock, William Hooper, Philip 
Livingston, and Thomas Nelson, Jr., five in 
all. Not only Washington, but nearly all 
of his generals were Freemasons; such, at 
least, was the case with respect to Generals 
Nathanael Greene, Richard Henry Lee, 
Israel Putnam, Francis Marion, Baron Steu- 
ben, Baron De Kalb, and the Marquis de 
Lafayette, with whom should be included 



General Joseph Warren and Paul Revere. 
Joseph Brant (Thayendanegea), a Mohawk 
Indian chief in the British service during 
the Revolutionary War, and Tecumseh, 
chief of the Shawnee Indians, an ally of the 
British in the War of 1812, who attempted 
to incite the Indians against the whites, were 
both Freemasons. In the period between 
the close of the War of the Revolution 
and the end of the century are found the 
names of F. A. Muhlenburg, Speaker of the 
House of Representatives in 1789; William 
R. Cox, Secretary of the Senate in 1796; 
Robert R. Livingston of New York; and 
Peyton Randolph, who was Grand Master 
of Masons of Virginia. Only eight Free- 
masons have been elected President of the 
United States, out of twenty-four men who 
have had that honor: Washington, Jack- 
son, Polk, Fillmore (who recanted during 
the anti-Masonic excitement), Buchanan, 
Johnson, Garfield, and McKinley. A cor- 
responding list of Vice-Presidents includes 
six names: Aaron Burr, D. D. Tompkins, 
Richard M. Johnson, George M. Dallas, 
John C. Breckenridge, and G. A. Hobart; 
and among defeated candidates for the 
Presidency, John Hancock, John Marshall, 
Henry Clay, Lewis Cass, John Bell, Stephen 

A. Douglas, W. S. Hancock, and George 

B. McClellan were Freemasons, as were 
William II. English and Arthur W. Sewall 
among defeated candidates for the Vice- 
Presidency. Names of other prominent 
Americans who were or are Freemasons 
are grouped as follows: Cabinet Officers: 
James Guthrie, Kentucky (Secretary of the 
Treasury); Jacob Thompson, Mississippi 
(Interior); Howell Cobb, Georgia (Treas- 
ury); Zachariah Chandler, Michigan (In- 
terior); Edwin M. Stanton, Pennsylvania 
(War) ; Nathan Gotf, West Virginia (Navy) ; 
Hoke Smith, Georgia (Interior) ; Benjamin 
F. Tracy, New York (Navy), and General 
R. A. Alger, Michigan (War). Ministers 
Abroad: William Richardson Davie to 
France (Grand Master of Masons in North 
Carolina at the close of the last century); 



96 FIFTH ORDER OF MELCHIZEDEK AND EGYPTIAN SPHINX 

Anson Burlinganie, Massachusetts, to China; Kane and Lieutenants K. E. Peary and 
Marshall Jewell, Connecticut, to Russia; and A. W. Greely. Editors: Samuel Bowles 
Caleb Cushing, Massachusetts, to Spain. (1st), George D. Prentice, George W. Childs, 
Governors of States: Richard W. Caswell, Henry W. Grady, and Colonel John M. 
North Carolina; Edmund Randolph, Vir- Cockerill. Financiers: J. Edward Sim- 
ginia; DeWitt Clinton, New York; Leon mons, Henry W. Cannon, John W. Mackey, 
Abbett, New Jersey; Lucius Fairchild, Wis- Washington E. Connor, and William Sherer, 
consin; Roswell P. Flower, New York; Manager of the Clearing House, New York; 
James B. Gordon, Georgia; J. M. Rusk, Joseph Smith and Brigham Young of the 
Wisconsin; Thomas M. Waller, Connecti- Mormon Church; General Albert Pike of 
cut; General Benjamin F. Butler, Massa- the Confederate Army; Stephen Girard, 
chusetts; J. B. McCreary, Kentucky; D. H. philanthropist; Josiah Quincy (President 
Hastings, Pennsylvania; and George W. of Harvard College, 1829-40, during the 
Peck, Wisconsin. United States Senators: anti-Masonic agitation); Jacob Quantrell, 
Rufus Choate, Massachusetts; Thomas H. guerrilla leader in the Civil War; Richard 
Benton, Missouri; John Rowan, Kentucky; Vaux of Philadelphia; Rt. Rev. Bishop 
General John A. Logan, Illinois; Oliver P. H. C. Potter of New York; Rt. Rev. Wil- 
Morton, Indiana; Leland Stanford, Cali- liam Stevens Perry of Iowa; Rev. Stephen 
fornia; Marion Butler, North Carolina; H. Tyng; Rev. Robert Collyer, New York; 
F. T. Du Bois, Idaho; J. N. Dolph, Ore- Chauncey-M. Depew, 0. H. P. Belmont, 
gon; George F. Edmunds, Vermont; C. J. Samuel M. Gompers, Joseph D. Weeks, 
Faulkner, West Virginia; Arthur P. Gor- Marshall P. Wilder, John Brougham, Ed- 
man, Maryland; H. C. Hansbrough, North win Forrest, William J. Florence, and Ed- 
Dakota; 0. H. Piatt, Connecticut; M. S. win Booth. 

Qaay, Pennsylvania; G. L. Shoup, Idaho; The fact that nearly all the names are 
Henry M. Teller, Colorado; JohnM^Thurs- of men who have become distinguished in 
ton, Nebraska; Daniel W. Voorhees, In- politics, war, or the professions was to have 
diana; Z. B. Vance, North Carolina; John been expected. It is less often that one 
J. Ingalls, Kansas; John T. Morgan, Ala- acquires a national or international repu- 
bama; Charles T. Manderson, Nebraska; tation in commercial, manufacturing, or 
John M. Palmer, Illinois; William A. Pef- agricultural pursuits, and it is among fol- 
fer, Kansas; Thomas C. Piatt and Warner lowers of the latter, of course, that by far 
Miller, New York. Congressmen: David the larger proportion of the nearly 1,400,000 
Wilmot, Pennsylvania; Robert Toombs, affiliated and unaffiliated American Free- 
Georgia; Thomas Corwin, Ohio; William masons are to be found. 
D. Kelley, Pennsylvania; R. P. Bland, Fifth Order of Melchizedek. and 
Missouri; Samuel J. Randall, Pennsyl- Egyptian Sphinx. — This secret organiza- 
vania; William S. Holman, Indiana; James tionof men and women, the last known public 

D. Richardson, Tennessee, and Jeremiah appearance of which was at Boston in 1894, 

E. Simpson, Kansas. Judiciary: John was also known as the " Solar Spiritual Pro- 
Marshall, of Virginia, Chief Justice of the gressive Order of the Silver Head and Golden 
Supreme Court of the United States ; George Star." The Order claimed to have been 
M. Bibb, Chief Justice of Kentucky; Rob- founded several thousand years "A. M.," 
ert Trimble, Kentucky, Chief Justice of the which may signify either ante-Melchizedek 
Supreme Court of the United States; and or after Melchizedek. 

John M. Harlan, Kentucky, Associate Jus- Genii of Nations, Knowledges, and 

tice of the United States Supreme Court. Religions. — A mystical association which 

Among Arctic Explorers: Dr. Elisha K. seeks to conduct its neophytes from the 



ORDER OF AMARANTH 



97 



Seen to the Unseen, a sort of esoteric col- 
lege, familiarly known to its members as the 
G. N. K. R. It was organized at Boston 
in 1888, and contains three branches, the 
Laws of the Ens, Movens, and Om, "in- 
cluding the secrets connected therewith." 
The Hierophant is reported to reside in Ap- 
plegate, Cal. 

Hermetic Brothers of Luxor. — Said 
to be ancient, mystical, and of Oriental ori- 
gin. The head of the Exterior Circle in 
America recently resided in Illinois. It 
teaches "that the divine scintillations of 
eternal spirit will each complete its own 
'cycle of necessity. 7 " It is sometimes re- 
ferred to as "Isis Unveiled." 

Independent International Order of 
Owls. — Organized by William Richardson, 
G. A. Meacham, and others, Freemasons, 
at St. Louis, Mo., in 1890, a secret society 
having sociability and recreation for its ob- 
jects. Only Freemasons (Master Masons) 
are eligible to membership. The presiding 
officers of subordinate bodies are called Sapi- 
ent Screechers, and instead of Lodges, places 
of meeting are called Nests, the governing 
body being the Supreme Nest of the World. 
The Order numbers about 2,500 members. 

Mystic Order, Veiled Prophets of the 
Enchanted Realm. — Founded by Hon. 
Thomas L. James, ex-Postmaster-General 
of the United States, who was the first 
Grand Monarch of the organization ; Pro- 
fessors Oren Root of Hamilton College, 
Clinton, N. Y. ; and J. F. MacGregory of 
Madison University, Madison, N. Y. ; Gen- 
eral William M. Nest and LeRoy Fairchild, 
both of Hamilton, N. Y. ; with Rt. Wor. 
George H. Raymond, Grand Lecturer of the 
Grand Lodge of Freemasons of the State 
of New York ; Lieutenant W. C. Eaton, 
U. S. N. ; and many others, all Freemasons, 
as a social and recreative secret society. 
The Order announces that in order to con- 
serve its own interests and secure the most 
desirable material none but Master Masons 
are made eligible for membership. One 
of its .objects "is to benefit the symbolic 
7 



(Masonic) Lodge," and "although in many 
cases the government may be guided by 
Masonic usage as the most perfect system 
extant, it is to be strictly understood that 
in itself this is not a Masonic Order, and 
the degree is in no sense a Masonic degree." 
It is further announced that, as in addition 
to the abstruse and complicated teachings 
of Freemasonry which go to make up a 
part of life, we also " need sunshine," so 
these Freemasons have built up a new 
Order, which is "Mystic" in its subtle les- 
sons, as in its form ; "Veiled," because no 
human heart stands all revealed ; and in 
an "Enchanted Realm," because "duties 
wear" and "sorrows burden in any unen- 
chanted realm." The cornerstones of the 
Order, therefore, as may be inferred, are 
sociability and goodfellowship. The first 
Grotto was formed at Clinton, N. Y., where 
Hamilton College is situated. The organi- 
zation spread rapidly, there being ten 
Grottos in existence five years later, with 
two thousand members. Like the Benevo- 
lent and Protective Order of Elks, the 
Mystic Order, Veiled Prophets of the En- 
chanted Realm establishes only one Grotto, 
or subordinate body, in any one city. The 
total number of Grottos in 1897 was ten, 
the principal ones being at New York, 
Rochester, and Buffalo, and the total mem- 
bership about 2,000. The head covering of 
a Veiled Prophet is a turban with a silver 
tissue veil, the color of which is selected by 
each Grotto, with the exception that purple 
veils are reserved for members of the Su- 
preme Council, or governing body. 

Order of Amaranth. — Originally in- 
tended as higher degree in the Order of the 
Eastern Star, to form the third of a series 
of which the Eastern Star degree and the 
Queen of the South should be respectively 
the first and second. As Chapters of the Or- 
der of the Eastern Star did not approve that 
plan, the Amaranth remains a distinct Order, 
to which only Master Masons in good stand- 
ing and women who are members of the Or- 
der of the Eastern Star are eligible. The 



ORDER OF MARTINISTS 



ritual upon which its present work is 
founded is said to have been written nearly 
forty years ago by J. B. Taylor of Newark, 
N. J. This, Eobert Macoy of New York is 
said to have amplified and improved, until 
it had substantially the form used to-day. 
The institution of Courts of the Order of 
Amaranth began about five or six years ago, 
but the growth of this Order has not been 
rapid, total membership to-day not exceed- 
ing five hundred. The ritual is based on 
incidents in the lives of several characters 
in the New Testament. In the beginning 
an attempt was made to incorporate a mu- 
tual assessment beneficiary feature, but it 
was abandoned soon after. The objects are 
largely benevolent and social. (See Order 
of the Eastern Star.) 

Order of Martinists. — One of the nu- 
merous Masonic rites which made its 
appearance in France about the middle of 
the last century. It is also called the Kite 
of Martinism. It appeared at Lyons in 
1767, with ten degrees, fathered by Louis 
Claude de St. Martin, a disciple of Martinez 
Paschalis. The latter's rite of nine degrees 
formed the basis of the "rectified rite" of 
St. Martin, who was a deeply religious man, 
a student of Rosicrucianism, of Sweden- 
borg, and of the teachings of the Kabbalists 
and hermetic doctors of the middle ages. 
His rite was naturally filled with what has 
been described as " reveries of the mystics." 
The Order was popular for a time, and 
spread into Germany and Russia, where it 
had a brief career. The only excuse for 
this reference is the statement by S. C. 
Gould, in his " Arcane Fraternities," Man- 
chester, N. H., 1896, that the Order, "re- 
duced to three essential and four accessory 
degrees," was introduced into America in 
1887, where it is "being conferred by estab- 
lished and recognized Masonic authorities." 
He adds that its chief officer for the United 
States "resides in Missouri," and that its 
disciples " are residents of more or less of 
the States." 

Order of the S. E. K. — Composed of 



students of Esotericism, Egyptology, and 
Symbolism. Membership is limited. The 
Order is known to exist in Massachusetts. 
Order of the Eastern Star.— A chari- 
table and benevolent society to which only 
Master Masons, their wives, widows, sisters, 
and daughters are eligible. ! Its teachings 
are founded on the Holy Bible. Chapters of 
the Order exist in nearly all, if not quite 
all, of the States of the Union, in the Prov- 
ince of Ontario and elsewhere in the Do- 
minion of Canada, Scotland, and at one 
time in Mexico, Central America, and in 
South America. Its total membership is 
nearly 200,000, about 160,000 in the 
United States, and very small elsewhere, 
the majority being women. Its symbolism 
centres about the five-pointed star and the 
pentagon, or signet of Solomon. It is re- 
lated that, originally, the first point of the 
star suggested Obedience; the second, At- 
tachment; and so on ; but the modern ritual 
teaches that the first point represents the 
binding force of a vow, illustrated by 
Jephthah^s daughter ; the second, devotion 
to religious principles, as exemplified in the 
character of Ruth ; the third, fidelity to 
kindred and friends, as personified by Es- 
ther ; the fourth, faith in the power and 
merits of a Redeemer, as manifested by 
Martha; and the fifth, Charity, illustrated by 
Electa. There is also a symbolism expressed 
through the signet, and there are other 
emblems, shown within the star. The so- 
ciety has the customary sign language found 
in kindred organizations. It is proper to 
explain that this Order is not Freemasonry, 
and is in no way connected with it. It was 
created by Freemasons, and only members 
of the Masonic Fraternity and women rela- 
tives of the latter may join it. It affords no 
especial means by which women members 
may prove themselves relatives of Free- 
masons, except to Freemasons who are 
members of the Order of the Eastern Star. 
The Order is quite popular in the West, 
where almost every city and town has one 
or more Chapters. Its membership is also 



ORDER OF THE EASTERN STAR 



99 



large at the East and is growing. In many 
instances, in addition to performing its 
function, that of inculcating various moral 
and religious principles, it operates in 
practice as a social club, or rallying point 
for women members of families of Free- 
masons, their husbands, and, if also Free- 
masons, their brothers and fathers. Not 
many years ago it was generally supposed 
the Order was originated in 1850 or 1851 by 
Robert Morris, the well-known poet and 
Freemason. Through the courtesy of Alonzo 
J. Burton of New York, the writer has 
been shown a printed ritual of an " Ancient 
and Honorable Order of the Eastern Star/' 
together with an account of its proceedings 
at a session in Boston, Mass., May 18, 
1793, which explains that the Society per- 
formed a most efficient work of charity 
during the wars of the Revolution and 1812. 
The idea of what has been called an Adop- 
tive or an Androgenous rite goes back, of 
course, even farther than that. A reference 
to the writings of Mackey, Oliver, and oth- 
ers, indicates that shortly after the in- 
troduction of Freemasonry from England 
to the Continent of Europe (one account 
says as early as 1830), so-called " Masonic " 
Lodges for women made their appearance. 
To the mere statement of Mackey that there 
is a trace of these as early as 1649, nothing 
can be added. But in 1843 we find a 
French society of this variety, entitled 
"Ordre des Felicitaires ; " in 1847, the 
"Order of Wood Cutters;" and, later, a 
number of others. These were formed in 
Germany, Poland, Russia, and, notably, in 
France, during the middle of the last cen- 
tury, where, for the next twenty-five years, 
they flourished and were popular among the 
nobility and others in the higher ranks of 
society. " Lodges of Adoption " appeared in 
France in 1750, to which only Master Masons 
and women relatives were eligible, and were 
so called from their being taken under the 
nominal protection of or being "adopted" 
by regular Masonic Lodges. But there was 
no further connection than that between 



them and the Freemasonry of one hundred 
and forty years ago, although rather more 
than that which exists between the Order of 
the Eastern Star and Freemasonry to-day, 
for there is no such thing in the United 
States as even an " adoption " of an Eastern 
Star Chapter by a Masonic Lodge, or even 
the recognition of the existence of a body 
known as the Order of the Eastern Star by 
a Masonic Grand Body. The rituals of the 
Ordre des Felicitaires, the Wood Cutters, 
and others of like character, are quite dis- 
similar from Masonic rituals, tending rather 
to poetic, scenic effects, and dramatic per- 
formances calculated to impress the (men 
and women) novitiates who invariably took 
part in them with the moral lessons which 
it was sought to inculcate. Some of these 
relatively ancient, appendant orders for 
Freemasons and women relatives of Free- 
masons exist on the European Continent 
to-day, though they have long ceased to at- 
tract the number of candidates or class of 
members for which they were formerly 
noted. 

Freemasonry was introduced into the 
American colonies nearly one hundred and 
seventy years ago, and in the latter half of 
the last century (population of the country 
and the lack of facilities for communication 
considered), had an extensive and, as his- 
tory informs us, distinguished membership. 
There are fragmentary printed memoranda 
indicating that some of the continental 
degrees conferred in " Lodges of Adoption," 
or other men and women's Orders to which 
only Freemasons and women relatives were 
eligible, were introduced into this country 
as early as 1778. Whether any of these 
took the form of an Order of the Eastern 
Star, which the published report referred 
to, may never be known. One may only 
admit its likelihood. With the brief state- 
ment in the Proceedings of the Ancient and 
Honorable Order of the Eastern Star, re- 
published in New York in 1850, that that 
society was conspicuous for deeds of charity 
in the War of the Revolution and in the 



100 



ORDER OF THE EASTERN STAR 



War of 1812, one is forced to rest content, 
until Eobert Morris invented and costumed 
his Order of the Eastern Star. Morris was 
born at Boston in 1818, was made a Free- 
mason at Oxford, Miss., March 5, 1846, and 
in 1847, with his wife, received the so-called 
"side" or unsystematized Masonic degree, 
the "Heroine of Jericho." This is said to 
have greatly interested him, and in Febru- 
ary, 1850, when confined to his bed with 
rheumatism, he is described as having de- 
vised the Order of the Eastern Star. He 
writes of his having "hesitated for a 
theme " on which to build such an Order, 
haying " dallied over a name " and pondered 
long over the selection of the five-pointed 
star and pentagon as its chief emblems. 
This would indicate originality on his part, 
and suggests that his calling it the Order of 
the Eastern Star was merely a coincidence. 
The writer is unable to learn that Morris 
ever heard of the Eastern Star of 1793. 
This, then, is the slender thread upon 
which hangs the claim of antiquity for the 
modern Order. Morris wanted this society 
to become a branch of Freemasomw, so as 
to permit women members to prove them- 
selves relatives of Freemasons to members 
of the Masonic Fraternity anywhere, and to 
enable them to share in the charitable work 
of that Fraternity. His plan excited great 
opposition, and failed. In 1853 he con- 
ferred the Order on a number of acquaint- 
ances, and in 1855 instituted Constellation 
No. 1, Purity, at Lodge, Fulton County, 
Kentucky. The headquarters were at Lex- 
ington, Ky., and Morris, of course, was the 
Grand Luminary. About two hundred 
Constellations were formed throughout the 
United States, one being in New York city, 
somewhere on Spring Street. This arrange- 
ment of the Eastern Star ritual met with 
disfavor from Freemasons, and as the 
ceremony was "too complicated," Morris 
revised it in 1859, calling the bodies "Fam- 
ilies of the Eastern Star." A number of 
Families were instituted, but the revised 
ritual evidently did not possess elements of 



success. When Morris sailed for the Holy 
Land, in 1866, he turned over all his rights 
to the Order of the Eastern Star to Eobert 
Macoy of New York. In 1866 a church 
stood at the corner of Grand and Crosby 
Streets, in New York, the property of the 
Freemasons of the State of New York, and 
in December of that year a fair was held 
there for the benefit of the proposed Masonic 
Hall and Home. At its conclusion the 
ladies who had presided over the tables were 
loath to break their pleasant associations, 
and a ball was given a month or two later, 
and a thousand dollars more realized for the 
fund. On January, 17, 1867, eighteen of 
the ladies organized a society and called it 
the Alpha Chapter of the Order of the 
Eastern Star. They met occasionally and 
performed works of charity, but, lacking a 
ritual, the society did not prosper. About 
a year later one of the ladies met Eobert 
Macoy, an eminent Freemason, and told 
him that if the society had a ritual she 
thought it would be successful. Mr. Macoy 
set to work rearranging the old ritual, and 
on October 15, 1868, in the presence of the 
eighteen ladies referred to, conferred the 
degree, with his own wife as the candidate. 
Macoy simplified the work of the Constel- 
lations and amplified that of the Families 
by a dramatic rearrangement which was at 
once successful. From that time the Order 
began to increase, and New York State 
to-day has 125 Chapters and about 10,000 
members. The Grand Chapter of New 
York was organized November 3, 1870. 

In 1866 Albert Pike printed a version 
of the French ritual of an Order of the 
Eastern Star of a century ago, using the 
forms intact, but augmenting the parts. 
The ritual is conrposed of three degrees, 
Apprentice, Companion, and Mistress. The 
work is now exceedingly scarce. The de- 
grees are so complicated that it would be 
impracticable for the ordinary assembly to 
work them, and there is no record that they 
were ever exemplified in this country. 
Whether either Morris or Macoy ever saw 



ORDER OF THE PALLADIUM 



101 



this work or the original is not known. 
Macoy, as Supreme Head of the Order, 
began chartering chapters and issuing new 
warrants to such Families as existed, and 
1869, 1870, 1871, and 1872 witnessed the 
extension of the Order into nearly every 
State in the Union, Cuba, Mexico, Central 
and South America, superseding a species 
of " Adoptive Freemasonry" which had 
grown up in Michigan and in New York in 
1867 and 1868. What was called the 
Supreme Council of the Adoptive Rite of 
the World was instituted at New York 
city, June 14, 1873, at a time when a 
meeting of the General Grand Council of 
Royal and Select Masters (American Rite 
of Freemasonry) was held at that city. 
Morris presided, and Macoy was elected 
Supreme Patron ; Mrs. Frances E. Johnson, 
Supreme Matron ; Andrew Cassard, Asso- 
ciate Supreme Patron ; Laura L. Burton, 
Deputy Supreme Matron; Robert Morris, 
Supreme Recorder ; William A. Prall, Su- 
preme Treasurer ; and P. M. Savary, 
Supreme Inspector. This was not long- 
lived. The General Grand Chapter of the 
Order was formed in 1876 at Chicago, and 
has jurisdiction over the entire Order, ex- 
cept in Vermont, Connecticut, New York, 
and New Jersey, reporting 27 Grand Chap- 
ters in all. In 1874 Alonzo J. Burton of 
New York originated a floral ceremony to 
supplement the general work of the Soci- 
ety, which is in quite general use. At the 
session of the Grand Chapter, held in New 
York city, June, 1895, the Order of the 
Sisterhood was exemplified by a selected 
corps from Utica, N. Y., and the degree 
was adopted as an auxiliary. It was com- 
posed in the latter part of 1878, and is 
founded on the Biblical account of Jacob's 
ladder and a history of the life of Mary 
the mother of the Saviour. (See Order of 
Amaranth.) 

Order of the Magi. — A mystical Chi- 
cago Society, the practices and preachings 
of which are i ' open to all who can appre- 
ciate them," but which is in reality a secret 



Order in that its teachings are imparted by 
means of " secret machinery/' Its so-called 
"religion "is referred to as that of "the 
stars." No .one but members profess to 
know the cause of its existence or its 
underlying principles. 

Order of the Mystic Star. — Founded 
about 1872 or 1873, at New York city, by 
A. J. Duganne and others. It was designed 
to rival the then rapidly growing Order of 
the Eastern Star, and, like it, was open 
only to Master Masons, their wives, widows, 
mothers, daughters, and sisters. It did not 
live long. 

Order of the Oniah Language. — 
Founded at Washington, D. C. ; year not 
given. It describes the original universal 
language, the root, as the Omah tongue, 
the primal language " which allied man to 
Yahveh," and alleges that through confu- 
sion of sounds much that was known to man 
is lost ; that the Omah language revealed to 
man the secrets of material life ; and that 
"this language now upon this planet has 
once more reached the identical point from 
which it was diffused," so that " men daily 
pronounce the magic words, having no con- 
ception of their occult power and meaning." 
S. C. Gould, in his "Resume Arcane Asso- 
ciations," adds that "a word to the wise is 
sufficient;" from which some may infer 
that the Order thinks it has much it could 
teach, even to the most erudite students of 
high grade Masonry. 

Order of the Palladium.— Said by S. C. 
Gould, in his "Resume of Arcane Associa- 
tions," to have been "instituted in 1730," 
and "introduced into the United States at 
Charleston, S. C," where it remained dor- 
mant until 1884, when it was revived in 
1886, as the new and reformed Palladium, 
" to impart new force to the traditions of 
high grade Masonry." It admits men and 
women, the former to the grades of Adelphos 
and Companion of Ulysses, and the latter to 
that of Penelope. As its Councils are " held 
incognito," its proceedings never printed, 
and its membership is greatly restricted, 



102 



ORDER OF THE S. S. S. AND BROTHERHOOD OF THE ~Z. Z. R. R. Z. Z. 



little is known of it by others than mem- 
bers. It publishes the "Free and Kegen- 
erated Palladium," by which title it is now 
known. 

Order of the S. S. S. and Brother- 
hood of the Z. Z. R. R. Z. Z.— Head- 
quarters "for this country" at Boston. 
Its motto is : "All things come from 
within.'' Its seal is a circle, formed of 
three cobras " separated by three swastikas, 
encircling two interlaced triangles," which, 
in turn, enclose "the crux ansata," from 
which its theosophic temperament and 
mystical tendencies may be inferred. It 
declares that Love with Wisdom is the 
secret of Life, and that the Torch of Life 
is fed by the Oil of Love. Among its relics 
is said to be a "large cube of cream-white 
stone," of great antiquity, presented by " a 
Mexican chief." Membership is small. 

Order of the Sufis. — Philosophical and 
theosophical, based on the Unitarian doc- 
trines of the Persians. The word Sufi 
refers to the Arabic word Suf, wool, and 
alludes to the dress of the Dervishes who 
originally taught the principles the Order 
seeks to elucidate, which are alleged to 
reconcile philosophy with revealed religion 
by means of mystical interpretations of doc- 
trine. The candidate for its mysteries 
represents a traveler in search of Truth, 
"a hidden treasure," and passes through 
eight stages or grades, Worship, Love, Se- 
clusion, Knowledge, Ecstasy, Truth, Union, 
and Extinction, or absorption into the 
Light. S. 0. Gould, of Manchester, N. H., 
states that representatives of the Order re- 
side in New York and Missouri. 

Order of the White Shrine of Jerusa- 
lem. — Founded at Chicago a few years ago 
by Charles D. Magee, Supreme Chancellor. 
Men and women are eligible to member- 
ship. 

Queen of the South. — See Order of 
Amaranth. 

Rite of Swedenborg. — A mystical, 
theosophical Masonic rite, consisting of six 
degrees, which grew out of the Eite of the 



Illuminati (Avignon, 1760), into which 
the reveries of both Boehme (founder of 
the latter) and of Swedenborg (who was 
not a Freemason) were incorporated. It 
has been presumed to have long been ex- 
tinct outside of a few Swedish Lodges ; but 
S. C. Gould, in "Arcane Fraternities," Man- 
chester, N. H.,1896, says that the Kite flour- 
ished in a Lodge in New York from 1859 
until 1863, and that it is still practised 
as a distinct rite in the Dominion of 
Canada. 

Society of Eleusis. — Commemorative of 
its prototype, it is founded on a portion of 
the ceremonies of the latter, and occasion- 
ally holds a grand festival with appropriate 
exercises. It dates its birth 1356 B.C., and 
has for its motto, Quod hoc sibi vult ? Com- 
mune bonum. Its duodecennial celebration 
was held at Boston in 1884. 

Society of the Illuminati. — A seced- 
ing Mormon, religious secret society for 
men, with which was associated another 
organization, The Covenant, a secret so- 
ciety for Mormon men and women, which 
existed on Beaver Island, in Northern Lake 
Michigan, off the Grand Traverse regions, 
between 1850 and 1856. When the Mor- 
mons, under Brigham Young, left Council 
Bluffs for Utah, James J. Strang, at the 
head of a party of seceders (New York 
" Sun " Grand Eapids correspondence, 
January 21, 1895, published January 27), 
journeyed to Beaver Island, founded the 
village of St. James, " naming it after him- 
self," erected a tabernacle, and, with the 
assistance of " a dozen young men as apos- 
tles," conducted religious services. By 
1850 St. James had a population of about 
600. In 1850 Strang had a revelation from 
" an angel of the Lord," directing him to be 
crowned "King of the Mormons," and en- 
joining upon him and his people the practice 
of polygamy. He was accordingly crowned 
king in what might be described as " ample 
form," and took unto himself a number 
of wives. The account referred to adds 
that "in the Church" were two secret 



SOVEREIGN COLLEGE OF ALLIED MASONIC AND CHRISTIAN DEGREES FOR AMERICA 



103 



societies, one called the Society of the 
Illuminati, for men only, and the other for 
both men and women, called " The Cove- 
nant," from which it is easy to perceive he 
paralleled the work of Young, Kimball, 
Hyde, Pratt, and other Mormon leaders, 
then in Utah, where the secret "work" of 
the Mormon Church centred largely in the 
endowment house ceremonials. (See Free- 
masonry among the Mormons.) It is fur- 
ther explained that "in The Covenant 
iron-clad oaths were taken to defend the 
Church, even to the shedding of blood, and 
to stand by one another through thick and 
thin." The "secret obligations and work 
of the Illuminati were never made public." 
Strang's career was brief. In 1856 he 
was shot by one of his followers who had 
been publicly whipped by order of the 
"king" for refusing to compel his wife to 
wear "bloomers" in conrpliance with an 
" edict" that all women in the kingdom 
should dress in that manner. Learning of 
Strang's death, neighboring fishermen in- 
vaded the island, razed the tabernacle, and 
dispersed the piratical Mormon population, 
who fled to Chicago, Milwaukee, and else- 
where. 

Sovereign College of Allied 3Iasonic 
and Christian Degrees for America. — A 
" Grand body," founded by Hartley Car- 
michael, 33°, William Evan, 33°, and C. A. 
Nesbitt, 33°, at Eichniond, Virginia, in 1890, 
having rituals of some so-called "side" or 
unsystematized degrees, which are conferred 
only upon Freemasons, and several aca- 
demic degrees which are conferred upon 
distinguished Freemasons, honoris causa, 
or to members of the Fraternity "who have 
passed satisfactory examinations and paid 
the necessary fees." Its highest academic 
degree is entitled "Doctor of Universal 
Masonry," and only five Freemasons are 
said to have received it — Josiah H. Drum- 
mond, of Maine, Past Most Puissant Sover- 
eign Grand Commander of the Ancient and 
Accepted Scottish Eite for the Northern 
Masonic Jurisdiction of the United States 



of America ; William James Hughan, the 
well-known English Masonic historian ; D. 
Murray Lyon, the Scottish Masonic his- 
torian ; the Earl of Euston ; and Prince 
Demetrius Ehodocanakis of Greece. The 
Sovereign College is in amity with the 
Eoyal Ark Council of England, the Grand 
Conclave of Secret Monitors for Great 
Britain, the Colonies and Dependencies of 
the British Crown, and the Grand Council 
of the Allied Masonic Degrees for England, 
Wales, and the Colonies and Dependencies 
of the British Crown, at which the Earl of 
Euston is the representative of the Sovereign 
College in America. The allied Masonic 
and Christian degrees conferred by the Sov- 
ereign College are the Ark Mariner, cor- 
responding to the English Eoyal Ark Mari- 
ner ; Secret Monitor, Babylonish Pass, Great 
High Priest, St. Lawrence the Martyr, 
Tylers of Solomon, Knight of Constanti- 
nople, Holy and Blessed Order of Wisdom, 
and Trinitarian Knight of St. John of Pat- 
mos. In recently published announcements 
the Babylonish Pass and Great High Priest- 
hood are omitted. The Ark Mariner degree 
is popular in England, where the candidate 
must have taken the Mark Master Mason 
degree in order to be eligible to receive it. 
It is conferred upon Master Masons here. 
The language of the degree is peculiar. The 
Supreme body is called a "Grand Ark;" 
subordinate bodies are "Vessels." All its 
references are nautical, and allude to the 
Deluge and the Ark of Noah. Members 
profess to be followers of Noah, and there- 
fore call themselves Noachidse, or Sons of 
Noah. The degree, which was invented in 
England about the close of the last century, 
sheds no light upon Freemasonry. The 
degree of Secret Monitor, conferred upon 
Ark Mariners, is thought to have been de- 
rived from a Masonic society which was 
formed in Holland, about 1778, to teach 
the meaning of Brotherly Love. The latter 
was called the Order of David and Jonathan, 
and inculcated unfaltering friendship even 
in the presence of the most appalling danger. 



104 



TALL CEDARS OF LEBANON 



The degrees of Tylers of Solomon, St. Law- 
rence the Martyr, and Knight of Constanti- 
nople are conferred only upon those who have 
taken the two preceding degrees, and fchat 
last named upon those only who are willing to 
repeat and sign the Apostles' Creed. Mackey 
says of the degree of Knight of Constanti- 
nople, that it has no connection with Free- 
masonry, teaches an excellent lesson in hu- 
mility, and that it was probably instituted 
by some Masonic lecturer. The Babylonish 
Pass used to be conferred in Scotland in 
Royal Arch Chapters. It possesses some- 
thing in common with the Masonic Order 
of the Red Cross conferred in Commanderies 
of Knights Templars. It is thought that the 
Holy and Blessed Order of Wisdom is allied 
to one of a similar name referred to under 
the sketch of the Order of Knights of the 
Red Cross of Rome and Constantine (which 
see), particularly as the candidate must 
be either a Knight Templar or a thirty- 
second degree Freemason of the Ancient 
and Accepted Scottish Rite. The Trinita- 
rian Degree of Knight of St. John of Pat- 
mos is conferred only upon Freemasons of 
mark and learning who have received the 
thirty-second degree of the Ancient and Ac- 
cepted Scottish Rite. It is Christian and 
Trinitarian, and its possessors declare it 
equivalent to a patent of Masonic nobility. 
The ritual refers to the banishment of St. 
John. It is believed to be allied to the 
Order of Knights of St. John the Evan- 
gelist, conferred in Grand Councils of 
Knights of the Red Cross of Rome and 
Constantine. The Sovereign College is still 
situated at Richmond, Va,, and its three 
founders continue among its principal of- 
ficers. Total allied membership about 
2,100, of whom about 560 are in the United 
States. 

Tall Cedars of Lebanon. — The name 
of a so-called Masonic " side degree." The 
ceremony is said to be amusing. The de- 
gree has no official standing, and there is 
no regular or authorized method of confer- 
ring it, beyond the fact that it has been 



handed down to be passed along. Its finale 
is sometimes a banquet. 

Temple of Isis. — Situated at Chicago. 
Lectures are delivered before its members 
monthly, on such subjects as the Mysteries, 
the Sphinx, the Pyramids, and Hermetic 
Teachings. Its symbol is a four- winged 
kneph surrounded by a cobra. Dr. W. P. 
Phelon is named as the founder of the So- 
ciety, in which much is made of the Tetra- 
grammaton, or combination of Hebrew let- 
ters representing the great and sacred name 
of Deity. 

Theosophical Society. — (Contributed 
by Mrs. Annie Besant.) The Theosophical 
Society is an international brotherhood, the 
formation of which was suggested on Sep- 
tember 7, 1875, in the rooms of Madame 
H. P. Blavatsky, 46 Irving Place, New York 
city, U. S. A., and the definite organization 
of which was completed on November 17th 
of the same year. On that day the duly 
elected President, Colonel Henry Steele 
Olcott, delivered the inaugural address, and 
the official year of the Society is reckoned 
from November 17, 1875. The first officers 
have an historical interest. President, Henry 
Steele Olcott; Vice-Presidents, Dr. S. Pan- 
coast and 0. H. Felt; Corresponding Secre- 
tary, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky; Record- 
ing Secretary, John Storer Cobb; Treasurer, 
H. J. Newton ; Librarian, Charles Sotheran ; 
Councillors, Rev. J. H. Wiggin, R. B. West- 
brook, Emma Hardinge Britten, Dr. C. E. 
Simmons, H. D. Monachesi; Counsel to the 
Society, W. Q. Judge. Of all these, but 
one remains to-day, the President-Founder, 
H. S. Olcott, who, after twenty-two years 
of loyal service as President, remains still at 
the head of the Society, the symbol of its 
unity and the custodian of its unbroken tra- 
ditions. The rest are all swept away by death 
or desertion, the death of H. P. Blavatsky, 
the co-founder, having occurred in 1891. 

Organization. — The organization of the 
Society is copied from that of the United 
States, so far as federal and local govern- 
ments are concerned. It has a president, 



THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY 



105 



elected for a term of seven years (the Presi- 
dent-Founder holds his office for life, the 
seven years' term applying only to his suc- 
cessors). He appoints a rice-president, but 
the appointment must be ratified by the So- 
ciety; and he appoints a recording secretary 
and treasurer. There are no other officers 
belonging to the Society as a whole. The 
general control and administration of the 
Society is vested in a General Council, con- 
sisting of the President, the Vice-President, 
and the General Secretaries of the Sections 
into which the Society is divided. Its head- 
quarters are at Adyar, Madras, India, and 
consist of a large and beautiful building, 
containing a spacious hall for meetings, a 
fine library, the offices of the Society, and a 
number of living apartments; this building 
is surrounded by extensive grounds, pictur- 
esquely planted, and has several smaller 
bungalows connected with it for the work 
of the Society and the reception of visitors. 

The library, which was opened in 1886 by 
a remarkable ceremony in which Hindu, 
Buddhist, Mohammedan, and Zoroastrian 
priests officiated, contains a valuable collec- 
tion of some 10,000 Eastern palm-leaf manu- 
scripts and printed literature, some of the 
former being exceedingly rare. It bids fair 
to grow into an institution of very great 
importance, and plans are on foot to make 
it a great teaching centre and a resort for 
students from all parts of the world. Its 
beauty, seclusion, and quiet — while only 
seven miles distant from the city of Madras 
■ — combine to render it an ideal spot for the 
student. The anniversary meetings of the 
Theosophical Society are held at Adyar at 
the end of each December, and on that occa- 
sion a vast gathering assembles of members 
and friends from all parts of India and from 
other lands; the twenty-first anniversary 
was celebrated there on December 27, 28, 
29. and 30, 1896. 

Branches of the Society not belonging to 
any Section, and members unattached to 
any Branch or Section, are connected di- 
rectly with the headquarters at Adyar; but 



as soon as circumstances permit of their 
being organized under local governments 
they are encouraged to thus group them- 
selves. 

Any seven members of the Society may 
apply to be chartered as a Branch, all char- 
ters deriving their authority from the Presi- 
dent. Every Branch, or Lodge, of the So- 
ciety elects its own officers and makes its 
own by-laws, subject to the provision that 
such by-laws must not conflict with the gen- 
eral rules of the Society. Any seven or 
more chartered Branches can be formed by 
the President, on their application, into a 
Section, and this Section enjoys local auton- 
omy; it elects a General Secretary, who is 
ex-officio a member of the General Council, 
the governing body of the whole Society, 
and who is the official channel of communi- 
cation between the President and the Sec- 
tion. Each General Secretary sends an- 
nually to the President a report of the year's 
work of his Section, and these are summar- 
ized by the President in his annual report, 
and are preserved as part of the records of 
the Society at Adyar. There are at present 
(189?) seven Sections of the Theosophical 
Society: the American Section, chartered in 
1886. General Secretary, Alexander Fuller- 
ton, 5 University Place, Xew York city; it 
contains -40 Branches and is growing rap- 
idly; the European Section, chartered as 
the British Section in 1888, and extended 
to Europe in 1890, General Secretary, G. 
R. S. Mead, 19 Avenue Road, Regent's 
Park, London, England, with 79 Branches 
and Centres (groups not yet chartered); the 
Indian Section, chartered in 1890, General 
Secretaries, Bertram Keightley and Upen- 
dranath Basu, Benares, India, with 181 
Branches and Centres, of which 47 are in- 
active; the Australasian Section, chartered 
in 1894, General Secretary, J. Scott, -12 
Margaret Street, Sydney, N. S. W., with 
12 Branches; the Xew Zealand Section, 
chartered in 1895, General Secretary, Lilian 
Edger, Mutual Life Buildings, Auckland, 
with 8 Branches; the Scandinavian Section, 



106 



THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY 



chartered in 1895, General Secretary, A. Zet- 
tersten, Nybrogatan 30, Stockholm, Sweden, 
with 13 Branches; the Netherlands Section, 
chartered in 1897, General Secretary, W. B. 
Fricke, 76 Amsteldijk, Amsterdam, Hol- 
land, with 7 Branches. 

Ceylon has 22 Branches, but they are not 
organized into a Section ; the chief work of 
the Society in Ce}don has been that of edu- 
cation. Under the inspiring energy of the 
President-Founder the Sinhalese Buddhists 
have built and now maintain 100 schools 
and two large colleges, educating between 
3,000 and 9,000 Buddhist children. These 
22 Sinhalese Branches and four others are 
the only Branches outside the Sections. 

Objects. — The objects of the Theosophical 
Society are three in number: 1. To form a 
nucleus of the Universal Brotherhood of 
Humanity, without distinction of race, 
creed, sex, caste, or color. 2. To encourage 
the study of comparative religion, philoso- 
phy, and science. 3. To investigate unex- 
plained laws of nature and the powers latent 
in man. Only the first of these objects is 
binding on all members, and the Society 
embraces members of all faiths, demanding 
no assent to any formula of belief as a quali- 
fication of membership. Its members are 
connected by an ethical rather than by an 
intellectual bond, and their unity rests on a 
sublime spiritual ideal, not on a formulated 
creed. The Society has no dogmas, insists 
on no beliefs, indorses no chnrch, supports 
no party, takes no sides in the endless quar- 
rels that rend society and embitter national, 
social, and personal life. It seeks to draw 
no man away from his faith, but helps him 
to find in the depths of his own religion the 
spiritual nourishment he needs. That each 
should show to the religion of others the 
respect he claims for his own is understood 
as an honorable obligation in the Society, 
and perfect mutual courtesy on these mat- 
ters is expected from members. More and 
more this leads to cooperation in the search 
for truth, to softening of prejudices, to lib- 
eralizing of minds, and to the growth of 



a gracious friendliness and willingness to 
learn. 

Doctrines Studied. — The leading doc- 
trines studied in the Theosophical Society 
are : the unity of existence; the three Logoi; 
the nature of the universe and of man, as 
macrocosm and microcosm, evolving in a 
sevenfold order; the One Self as the root of 
Being, its infoldment in matter and the un- 
fold ment of its powers therein; the inherent 
divinity in man, his constitution and pow- 
ers; his evolution by reincarnation, treading 
in turn the physical, astral, and mental 
worlds, time after time, under the law of 
causation, or karma, until perfection is 
gained; the quickening of evolution by the 
study and practice of the science of the 
soul ; the present existence of men who have 
attained perfection, and who remain on 
earth to help onward the evolution of their 
less advanced brethren; the presence of such 
men in all ages, as custodians of a body of 
knowledge respecting God, the universe, 
man, and their relations to each other, lead- 
ing to a knowledge of the Self, the divine 
wisdom; the existence and continual activ- 
ity of Intelligences — spiritual and others — 
engaged in carrying on and directing all the 
processes of nature, with whom man can 
come into contact by virtue of the spiritual 
intelligence latent within himself. It is 
asserted that these doctrines are common to 
all religions, and that where any of them 
have become overlaid by efnux of time, it is 
necessary, in order to preserve the religion, 
that they should be restored. Their pres- 
ence in the various religions can be proven 
by the common language of symbolism, in 
which they are expressed, the leading sym- 
bols of great religions being identical. The 
study of symbolism is carefully pursued in 
the Branches of the Society. 

Inner Grades and Teachings. — While 
everyone who recognizes the universal broth- 
erhood of man is welcomed within the Theo- 
sophical Society, its inner grades, comprised 
within the Eastern School, or Esoteric Sec- 
tion, are open only to those members of not 



THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY 



107 



less than a year's standing, who have made 
sufficient progress to have become convinced 
of the truth of the fundamental theosophi- 
cal doctrines, and who, already striving to 
lead a pure and unselfish life, desire to ad- 
vance more rapidly in the evolution of the 
inner nature. Such members, on approval, 
enter the Eastern School, and commence a 
regular course of study and practice, de- 
signed to prepare them for admission into 
successive stages of the path which leads up 
to definite discipleship under one of the 
great Masters, or Adepts, who are the cus- 
todians of the divine wisdom, and who are 
ever ready to welcome the neophyte who 
proves himself worthy of acceptance. This 
School opens up once more, in the sight of 
the modern world, the ancient pathway to 
Initiation, the function performed in an- 
cient Greece by the Schools of Pythagoras, 
between which and the Theosophical Society 
there is an occult tie. Its lowest grades 
correspond to the classes of Pythagorean 
scholars who were learning to practise in 
family and social life the lower classes of 
virtues, and its higher ones, in ascending 
order, lead the earnest aspirant to the very 
gateway of the great Initiations. This res- 
toration to the modern world of the cher- 
ished privilege of antiquity — the knowledge 
where the beginning of the pathway can be 
found that leads from the life of the world 
to that of the Adept, or the perfected Man, 
is perhaps, to earnest and aspiring souls, 
the greatest boon bestowed by the Theo- 
sophical Society. 

History. — The history of the Theosophi- 
cal Society is one of struggle against appar- 
ently insurmountable obstacles, of crushing 
attacks and betrayals from which it has ever 
emerged the stronger and the purer, of tem- 
porary reverses followed by swifter progress. 
It is as though it were watched over by a 
Power which subjects it to the rudest trials, 
in order to shake out of it every member 
who is not strong enough to stand alone, 
and intuitional enough to discern the 
right pathway amid bewildering cross-roads. 



Some think that the Society is being shaped 
for a great work in the future, and that the 
unfit are therefore from time to time sifted 
out. 

Two figures stand prominently out as the 
Founders of the Society, Colonel Henry 
Steele Olcott and Madame Helena Petrovna 
Blavatsky. 

Colonel Henry Steele Olcott is a native- 
born American, and obtained his colonelcy 
during the great Civil War between North 
and South. He received high praise from 
his government for his services, and was well 
known, in addition, as a scientific agricul- 
turalist; but his cravings after knowledge 
of the invisible worlds drove him into in- 
vestigations that led him far away from offi- 
cialism and agriculture, and when he met 
Madame H. P. Blavatsky at the Eddy farm- 
house, whither he had gone to investigate 
the spiritualistic manifestations through the 
Eddy brothers, he was drawn to her by her 
obvious occult knowledge, and a bond was 
formed between them which united them in 
a common work on the physical plane till 
her passing away in 1891. According to 
her belief and his the bond remains un- 
broken on the higher planes of existence, 
and they are still co-workers, though not in 
the physical body- Together they founded 
the Theosophical Society, and traveled 
through the world to organize it. 

Helena Petrovna Blavatsky was a Eus- 
sian of noble family related to the imperial 
house of Eussia. She was married in ex- 
treme youth to his Excellency G-eneral Nice- 
phore Blavatsky, governor of a district in 
the Caucasus, but left him ere their married 
life had well begun, driven by an insatiable 
thirst for occult knowledge, and traveling, 
on means provided by her father, through 
Egypt and various Eastern lands, in search 
of a Teacher whom she knew to exist, but 
knew not where to find. At last she suc- 
ceeded in the object of her search, and be- 
came the pupil of a great Hindu sage, re- 
ceiving from him the knowledge with which 
she returned to the Western world. She 



108 



THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY 



made her way to America, where she was 
directed to begin her teaching work, met 
Colonel Olcott, and accepted him as the col- 
league she was seeking, and announced her- 
self to the world through the publication of 
two large volumes, " Isis Unveiled," a work 
showing a vast range of occult knowledge, 
but a collection of notes for a book rather 
than the complete book itself. 

These two remarkable persons were the 
founders and the sustainers of the Theo- 
sophical Society: Colonel Olcott the execu- 
tive officer, the organizer, presiding over all 
its outer activities; and Madame Blavatsky 
the teacher, the expounder of occult mys- 
teries and the wielder of occult forces. They 
were the twin suns round which the whole 
system revolved. 

The Society did not nourish in America 
after its foundation. Little interest was 
aroused by its teachings, Spiritualism being 
then in the ascendant, and it appeared as 
though the Society were fated to perish still- 
born. But its organization was just kept 
going by its founders, and the great spirit- 
ual forces behind it ensured its continuance 
through these early days. On July 16, 
1877, at a meeting of the Society, the Presi- 
dent was authorized to form branches of the 
Society in Great Britain, India, and else- 
where at his discretion, to transfer the So- 
ciety's headquarters to any country in which 
he might himself be established, and to tem- 
porarily appoint anyone he might select to 
any executive office necessary for the trans- 
action of business. These arrangements 
were made in view of the approaching de- 
parture of the Founders for India; the New 
York headquarters were broken up on their 
sailing for Liverpool on December 17, 1878, 
but a nucleus appointed by the President re- 
mained to carry on the life of the organiza- 
tion in America — General Abner Doubleday, 
David A. Curtis, G. V. Maynard, and W. Q. 
Judge. 

The first offshoot of the Theosophical So- 
ciety appeared in Great Britain, and was 
chartered on June 27, 1878. This Branch 



changed its name in 1883 from the "Brit- 
ish Theosophical Society" to the " London 
Lodge of the Theosophical Society." It 
still bears this name, and has Mr. A. P. 
Sinnett, the well-known writer, as its Presi- 
dent. It is the premier Lodge of the So- 
ciety, as holding the oldest charter. 

The Founders left England for India on 
January 19, 1879, and landed in Bombay 
on February 16th. There the Indian de- 
partment of the Society was founded, and 
branch after branch rapidly sprang up. 
The movement spread to Ceylon in 1880, 
nine branches being formed there. In Eu- 
rope, the Ionian Branch was founded in 
Corfu in 1882, followed by the formation of 
branches in France in 1883, and in Scot- 
land and Germany in 1884. 

In America the movement languished. 
An apparently abortive attempt to form a 
Branch at Los Angeles, CaL, was made in 
April, 1879, and under date April 30, 1881, 
Mr. Judge writes of the one group in New 
York city that it is "suspended," and 
" ought to remain torpid for some time 
yet." But General Doubleday and Dr. 
J. D. Buck were elected among the Vice- 
Presidents of the whole Society in April, 
1880, and Mr. Judge was elected as a re- 
cording secretary in 1879, and reelected in 
1880. In January, 1882, a slight renewal 
of life appeared at Eochester, and a Branch 
was chartered, followed on May 5, 1883, by 
a Branch at St. Louis. On December 4, 
1883, the original New York group, long 
suspended, dissolved itself, and the " New 
York Branch of the Theosophical Society" 
was formed under the name of the " Aryan 
Theosophical Society," with Mr. Judge as 
President. A " Board of Control " for the 
movement in America was chartered by the 
President-Founder on May 13, 1884. It 
lasted until October 30, 1886, when it was 
dissolved by the order of the President, and 
the nine Branches of the Theosophical So- 
ciety then existing in America were formed 
into the first territorial Section of the So- 
ciety. This Section was definitely organized 



THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY 



109 



on October 30, 1886, at the residence of Dr. 
J. D. Buck, Cincinnati, 0. Mr. W. Q. 
Judge was unanimously elected General Sec- 
retary and Treasurer, and from that time 
forward he devoted himself to the work of 
building up the Section with indomitable 
courage, perseverance, and energy. So well 
he wrought that in nine years he had estab- 
lished a Section of nearly one hundred 
Branches, and though at the end he de- 
serted the Society and struck at it a fratri- 
cidal blow, the errors of his later years may 
be forgotten in the lustre of his earlier ser- 
vices, when the schism he caused is healed 
by the gentle hand of time. 

The American revival followed close on 
the heels of one of the most ruthless attacks 
ever made on the Society. Two employes 
of the Society, accused of wrong-doing, 
concerted with certain missionaries in Mad- 
ras an elaborate accusation against Madame 
Blavatsky, when she and the President were 
absent in Europe, charging her with fraud 
in connection with abnormal manifesta- 
tions produced by her. Madame Blavatsky 
promptly resigned her position in the Soci- 
ety, in order that it might not be compro- 
mised in the eyes of the public, and de- 
manded an investigation into the charges. 
A large and important committee was 
formed to look into the matter, and cleared 
her from the charges made, conclusively 
proving that they were based entirely on 
false and slanderous statements made by 
enemies of the Society with the view of de- 
stroying it. Madame Blavatsky's resigna- 
tion was refused, and the Society declared 
its full confidence in her integrity, so that 
the attempt to ruin her only enthroned her 
more securely in the hearts of its members. 
As with King Solomon's judgment, which 
proved the true mother of the disputed child 
by her readiness to surrender it as hers in 
order that it might live, so did H. P. Bla- 
vatsky's prompt and entire self-abnegation 
prove her motherly devotion to the Society 
to which she had given birth. 

From this time (1884-85) onward the So- 



ciety seemed to be inspired with fresh life 
and energy. Mr. Judge, returning from 
India, threw T himself into the work in Amer- 
ica with the results already noted. The 
President succeeded in obtaining from Lord 
Derby, then the head of the Colonial Office, 
various alterations in the government pol- 
icy in Ceylon, thus benefiting the Buddhist 
population of that island, while the govern- 
ment in India at last withdrew from the 
official persecution by police espionage which 
it had carried on against the two Founders, 
under the pretence that they were engaged 
in political intrigues. Madame Blavatsky 
settled in Europe, at first in Germany and 
then in London, where she gathered round 
her a number of pupils, since well known 
in the movement, Bertram and Archibald 
Keightley, G. E. S. Mead, C. F. Wright, the 
Countess Wachtmeister, Mrs. Isabel Cooper 
Oakley, Mrs. Annie Besant, all members of 
the powerful London group called the Bla- 
vatsky Lodge, while she was also in the close 
neighborhood of her old pupils, A. P. Sin- 
nett and C. W. Leadbeater, two of the most 
widely known writers on Theosophy. (All 
these, except Dr. Archibald Keightley and 
Mr. Wright, remained loyal to the Society in 
the great crisis of 1894-95.) The European 
movement grew rapidly under the impulse 
given by Madame Blavatsky's presence and 
writings, and her London pupils have re- 
mained the leading writers of theosophical 
literature, forming the literary heart of the 
Society. At the close of 1888 Madame Bla- 
vatsky, with her colleague's cordial assent, 
formed her personal pupils into the Esoteric 
Section, that she later named the Eastern 
School, thus publicly reopening the ancient 
pathway to the obtaining of the divine wis- 
dom. In 1891, on May 8th, she passed out 
of the body, bidding her pupils to expect 
her reappearance ere long in India, in an 
Indian body chosen by' her Master as the 
vehicle for her next incarnation. She left 
the carrying on of her special department 
of work in the hands of her pupil, Mrs. 
Annie Besant, in whose charge she also 



110 



THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY 



placed the whole of her unpublished manu- 
scripts. 

The Society continued to spread in all 
parts of the world, but in 1892 and 1893 
many complaints were circulated accusing- 
Mr. W. Q. Judge — who had been made 
Vice-President of the whole Society — of 
forging messages which purported to come 
from the Masters. The scandal grew so 
great that it became necessary to investigate 
it, and Mrs. Annie Besant early in 1894 
presented a formal request to the President 
to appoint a committee for the investigation 
of the charges. The committee met in Lon- 
don in the July of the same year, but was 
foiled in its purpose by the legal ingenuity 
of the accused, who pleaded that it had no 
jurisdiction to try him. The abortive at- 
tempt to put things right only increased the 
scandal, and at the Convention of the In- 
dian Section in the following December a 
resolution was passed calling on the Presi- 
dent to obtain from Mr. Judge a vindication 
of his character within six months, or fail- 
ing that to expel him from the Society. 
The Australian Section followed suit, and 
the European called on Mrs. Besant to pub- 
lish the evidence. At that time the Society 
consisted only of four Sections, and three of 
these were resolute that Mr. Judge should 
clear his character or leave the Society. 
Meanwhile Mr. Judge had been planning a 
coup de theatre. He had circulated pri- 
vately documents denouncing Mrs. Besant, 
and claiming the right to remove her from 
the position as teacher she had been given 
by Madame Blavatsky. His American col- 
leagues supported him, and he induced 
them, at the Convention of the American 
Section at Boston, in April, 1895, to declare 
the American Society independent, with 
himself as President for life. He was sup- 
ported by 90 votes to 10, and the American 
Section was reduced to fourteen Branches, 
the remainder constituting themselves into 
a separate Society, leaving the international 
body, and, while retaining its name, casting 
off their allegiance to its President and 



seceding from the original association. A 
couple of hundred members followed their 
example in Europe, under the leadership of 
Dr. Archibald Keightley, and about a score 
followed suit in Australasia. The fratricidal 
blow did not succeed in slaying the great 
international Society. Even in America a 
remnant stood firm and remained as the 
American Section, and the fourteen Branches 
to which it was reduced had increased to 
forty in July, 1897. In Europe the Society 
has grown rapidly in importance, and there 
are now three Sections in Europe instead of 
one, while in Australasia ~New Zealand has 
become a separate Section, the Theosophical 
Society thus possessing seven Sections scat- 
tered over the world. The whole Society is 
the stronger and the purer for the lesson 
that no position in it, however high, no ser- 
vices, however great, can be held to condone 
deviations from the path of probity and truth 
in the Society's work. 

Bibliography. — The leading magazines in 
the Society are " The Theosophist," founded 
by H. P. Blavatsky and Colonel H. S. 01- 
cott, edited by the latter, and published at 
Adyar, Madras, India; " Lucifer," founded 
by H. P. Blavatsky, edited by Annie Besant 
and Gr. R. S. Mead, and published in Lon- 
don, England; " Mercury," edited by J. W. 
Walters, published in San Francisco, Cal., 
U. S. A.; " Theosophy in Australasia," 
published in Sydney, N. S. W., Australia; 
" Theosophia," published in Amsterdam, 
Holland; " Le Lotus Bleu," edited by Dr. 
Pascal, and published in Paris; " Teosofisk 
Tidokrift," published in Stockholm, Swe- 
den; "Sophia," published in Madrid, Spain. 
Besides these, there are many smaller jour- 
nals in various languages, issued in Europe 
and in India, suitable to local work and needs. 

The chief works issued are — By H. P. 
Blavatsky: " The Secret Doctrine," 3 vols. ; 
"The Key to Theosophy;" " Isis Un- 
veiled," 2 vols.; "The Voice of the Si- 
lence;" " Panarion, or a Collection of 
Fugitive Papers;" "The Caves and Jun- 
gles of Hindostan;" " Mghtmare Tales," 



THE ROCHESTER BROTHERHOOD 



111 



a collection of extraordinarily weird, occult 
stories. By H. S. Olcott: "Old Diary 
Leaves," a history of the Theosophical So- 
ciety; " Theosophy, Religion, and Occult 
Science ; " " Posthumous Humanity, ' ' trans- 
lated from the French; " A Buddhist Cate- 
chism; " " Kinship between Hinduism and 
Buddhism." By A. P. Sinnett: "'The 
Occult World; " " Esoteric Buddhism; " 
"The Growth of the Soul; " " The Ration- 
ale of Mesmerism;" "Karma," a novel. 
Bv Annie Besant: Five of the series of 
"Theosophical Manuals," expositions of 
Theosophical doctrines; " The Ancient Wis- 
dom," an outline of Theosophy; "The 
Building of the Kosmos; » "The Self and 
its Sheaths;" "The Birth and Evolution 
of the Soul;" "In the Outer Court;" 
" The Path of Discipleship ; " " Four Great 
Religions," expositions of Hinduism, Zoro- 
astrianism, Buddhism, and Christianity; 
"The Three Paths to Union;" a transla- 
tion from the Sanskrit of " The Bhagavad 
Gitti." By G. R. S. Mead: "Plotinus;" 
" Orpheus; " " The World Mystery; " " Si- 
mon Magus;" a translation of the " Pistis 
Sophia; " a translation from the Sanskrit, 
"The Upanishads," 2 vols. By C. W. 
Leadbeater: Two of the series of "Theo- 
sophical Manuals;" "Dreams." By W. 
Scott-Elliot: "The Story of Atlantis," 
with maps. By M. C. : "Light on the 
Path." By Franz Hartmann: "Magic, 
White and Black;" "The Secret Symbols 
of the Rosicrucians." By Dr. Pascal: 
"L'A. B. C. de la Theosophie; " " Les 
Sept Principes de lTIomme." By Alexan- 
der Fullerton: " The Wilkesbarre Letters; " 
"The Indianapolis Letters." By Walter 
R. Old: "What is Theosophy?"' By W. 
Kingsland: "The Esoteric Basis of Chris- 
tianity." By Rama Prasad: " Xature's 
Finer Forces." By T. Subba Row: "Dis- 
courses on the Bhagavad Gita; " " Esoteric 
Writings." There is a very large pamphlet 
literature. 

[The Theosophical Society has also had 



some of the ordinary secret society elements 
of secrecy in it; i.e., "certain signs, pass- 
words, and a grip." Mrs. Besant writes 
that these "are still universally used in 
India," where every new member is for- 
mally received and invested with them. 
" In the West," she adds, "they have been 
dropped — a mistake, I think. The Esoteric 
Section or Eastern School is a secret society. 
H. P. Blavatsky was often asked by Masons 
to give them the lost knowledge, and would 
sometimes surprise them by giving them 
their own grips. She had some pupils 
among them, but I am not aware that she 
offered them that which, as a body, they 
seek." The emblems selected by the Theo- 
sophical Society are familiar to all students 
of symbolism, particularly to those who have 
attained the haut grades of Scottish Rite 
Freemasonry. They consist of an Egyptian 
tan in the centre of two interlaced equilat- 
eral triangles encircled by a serpent holding 
aloft the swastika, or Phoenician tan. From 
the point of view of the Theosophical So- 
ciety it is explained that "the serpent sym- 
bolizes, as a serpent, wisdom, and as a ring, 
eternity; also the manifested universe de- 
scribed by the eternal wisdom. The swas- 
tika is the divine power in creative activity, 
by its motion producing or generating all. 
The tau is the symbol of the same power in 
its lower aspect, when in the Egyptian form 
the interlaced triangles are spirit and mat- 
ter, life and form, fire and water, indivisible 
during manifestation, and within these the 
tau works." — Editor.] 

The Rochester Brotherhood. — 
Founded at Rochester, X. Y., in 1887, a 
religious, mystical society, which seeks to 
show that "the Perfect Man is the anthro- 
pomorphic God.'' Its symbol is a triangle 
with R. B. in the centre. The letters L L 
are placed at the upper point, S S at the 
left, K D at the right point, meaning re- 
spectively " Live the Life/' " Search the 
Scriptures/" and "Know the Doctrine." 
Its membership is small. 



112 



FRATERNAL ORDERS 



II 



MUTUAL ASSESSMENT BENEFICIARY FRATERNITIES 

(GENERAL) 



Fraternal Orders. — Within a dozen 
years this expression has come to have spe- 
cial reference to the beneficiary secret soci- 
eties, those which pay death, sick, funeral, 
disability, or other benefits, and which have 
become so popular. They are the natural 
outgrowth of the English friendly societies. 

The first English friendly societies act 
was passed in 1793.' It designated them as 
societies of good fellowship. Their origin 
seems by common consent to be the burial 
club of the ancient Chinese, the Greeks, and, 
after them, the Romans, by whom the idea 
was transmitted to the Teutons, whence the 
Teutonic Guilds. There appears to be some 
doubt whether the earliest English friendly 
societies were of Roman or Teutonic origin. 
Investigators declare that both the Greeks 
and the early English guilds followed 
burial relief with a system of mutual assist- 
ance in sickness and distress. Naturally, in 
the beginning, guilds were largely made up 
of neighbors, those living in a particular 
locality, from which it is but a step to 
guilds made up of members of the same 
trade, whence the early trades unions, or 
guilds. After the suppression of the re- 
ligious guilds in England in the sixteenth 
century, a system of organized relief was 
substituted, by means of the poor law of 
Elizabeth, after which followed the earlier 
of the present type of what in England are 
called friendly societies. The earliest of 
the known English friendly societies were 
formed in 1634, but authorities agree that 
no connection has been shown between 
them and the last of the mediaeval guilds 
in 1628. After the first friendly societies 
act was passed, it is stated that thousands 
of clubs formed friendly societies, designed 



to promote good fellowship and relief dur- 
ing sickness, and burial at death. Some of 
those societies have maintained a continued 
existence to this day, more than one hun- 
dred years. The cutting down of the taxes 
for the relief of the poor in 1819 showed the 
appreciation of the British Government of 
the work done by the friendly societies in 
encouraging self-relief. The friendly so- 
cieties act was entirely reconstructed in 
1829, so as to take cognizance of the inten- 
tions and requirements of such societies. 
The act was further amended in 1834, 1846, 
1850, 1855, and in 1875 and 1876. By 1855, 
when friendly societies, notably the Eng- 
lish Independent Order of Odd Fellows, 
Manchester Unity, and the Ancient Order 
of Foresters, had become firmly established 
and extremely popular throughout the King- 
dom, there were 21,875 such organizations 
registered. Under the act as amended in 
1876, British friendly societies were divided 
into thirteen classes : 1. Affiliated Socie- 
ties, or Orders, such as Odd Fellows, For- 
esters, Rechabites, "Druids, and the like, 
which have lodges, courts, tents, or divi- 
sions ; 2. General Societies ; 3. County So- 
cieties ; 4. Local Town Societies ; 5.. Local 
Village Societies ; 6. Particular Trade So- 
cieties ; 7. Dividing Societies ; 8. Deposit 
Friendly Societies ; 9. Collecting Societies ; 
10. Annuity Societies ; 11. Female Soci- 
eties, such as the Female Foresters, Odd 
Sisters, Loyal Orangewomen, Comforting 
Sisters, etc.; 12. Workingmen's Clubs, for 
those in search of employment, or relief 
from special ailment ; and 13. Cattle Insur- 
ance Societies. By the amended act of 
1875 these Societies make annual reports 
of their condition and operations, and at 



FRATERNAL ORDERS 



113 



five-year intervals statements of assets, lia- 
bilities, risks, and contributions. 

The Odd Fellows, Foresters, Rechabites, 
and Druids, all English friendly societies of 
the first class, had been introduced into the 
United States prior to the Civil War, up 
to which period native efforts to make 
secret societies had been confined largely 
to political organizations. Exceptions were 
the college fraternities and the Improved 
Order of Eed Men, a veritable friendly 
society. At the close of the war the Knights 
of Pythias appeared, likewise a friendly 
society, and a few years later the Ancient 
Order of United Workmen, the pioneer 
secret order founded to make practicable a 
system of cooperative life insurance. This 
it did, and has had several hundred imita- 
tors, of which many survive. Except in 
that these Fraternal Orders, by means of 
mutual assessments, pay benefits to relatives 
of deceased members, they practically par- 
allel the English friendly societies named. 
The Mutual Underwriter Chart of Frater- 
nal Organizations shows that at the begin- 
ning of 1896 there were 1,833,304 members 
belonging to the fraternal organizations re- 
porting to various insurance departments. 
At the beginning of 1897 that total had 
increased to 2,048,092. The "amount of 
protection written" during the year 1896 
was $574,964,915, as against $517,512,481. 
That in force was £3,698,398,335, as against 
$3,392,016,474. The assets aggregated 
$12,078,710, against $9,604,974, the year 
before. The liabilities were $3,666,924; 
against $2,479,438. From assessments in 
1896 the sum of $39,896,618 was received, 
against $35,844,732 in 1895. Receipts, ex- 
clusive of assessments, were 86,278.397 in 
1896, and $2,617,206 in 1895. The total 
income was $42,678,120 in 1896, and $38,- 
851,727 in 1895; $38,067,676 losses paid in 
1896, and $34,575,927 in 1895. Expenses 
in 1896 were $2,895,872, and 82,699.534 in 
1895. Total disbursements forl896 amounted 
to $40,985,084, while in 1895 they were 
$37,338,157. 
8 



Forty-eight of the larger and more suc- 
cessful Orders, those forming the National 
Fraternal Congress, are fewer than one- 
third of the total number of like societies 
still in existence, yet they report four- 
nfths of the total membership of all bene- 
ficiary secret societies, about 1,600,000 out 
of 2,000,000.* Their outstanding cer- 
tificates represent about 84,000,000,000 of 
"protection/' and during the last thirty 
years they have disbursed nearly $150,000,- 
000. It is not known that writers on co- 
operation in the United States have had 
their attention called to the progress made 
by cooperative or mutual assessment life 
insurance, beside which, cooperative buying 
among consumers, cooperative stores, and 
industrial cooperation, in this country, hide 
their diminished heads. 

* The following statistics of membership of 
various fraternal orders are furnished by Mr. Adam 
Warnock, Boston, Supreme Secretary of the Ameri- 
can Lesion of Honor : 



Name of Order. 



Ahavas Israel, Independent Order 

American Benefit Society 

American Guild 

American Legion of Honor 

Ancient Order of the Pyramids. . 

Ancient Order United Workmen 

Artisans' Order of Mutual Protection 

B*nai B'rith, Independent Order 

Ben Hur. Supreme Tribe of 

Bohemian C. C. U 

Bohemian Slavonian Knights and Ladies. . 

Brotherhood of the Union 

Canadian Order of Forester- 

Catholic Benevolent Legion 

Catholic Knights of America 

Catholic Knights of Wisconsin 

Catholic Mutual Benefit Association 

Catholic Order of Foresters 

Catholic Relief and Beneficiary Association. 

Catholic Women's Benevolent Legion 

Chosen Friends, Order of 

Foresters of Illinois. Independent Order of . 

Fraternal Aid Association 

Fraternal Alliance 

Fraternal Tribunes 

Free Sons of Israel, Independent Order 

Foresters, Independent Order of 

Fraternal Legion 

Fraternal Mystic Circle 

Fraternal Union of America 

Gen. Assembly- of the Amer. Benev. Asso.. 

Golden Cross,' United Order 

Golden Star Fraternity 

Good Fellows, Royal Society of 

Heptasophs. Imprbyed Order 

Hermann's Sons 'of Wisconsin 

Home Circle. . . / 

Home Forum Benefit Order 



Mem- 
bership, 
1897. 


Amount 

Claims 

Paid, 

1897. 


2,603 


$18,114 


4,381 


32.750 


3,680 


43.000 


21.315 


1.983.500 


3,026 


16,500 


347.990 


7,761.934 


4,545 


38.000 


6,156 


164,393 


13,695 


74,700 


10,827 


160.800 


1,211 


20.000 


12.6C6 


57.500 


27.165 


152.325 


46.998 


1,081,407 


22.878 


710.208 


7.438 


100,000 


43,628 


690,000 


55,463 


327.200 


4,077 


36.333 


4.7% 


14,000 


24.433 


848.468 


15.136 


196.300 


13,357 


93,500 


2.519 


6.047 


2.518 


4,060 


12.125 


277.927 


124.685 


992.22(5 


2.318 


42,150 


12,181 


173.250 


5,011 


23,075 


2.445 


11.300 


32.983 


494.150 


2.097 


23. M 5 


10,378 


324.370 


38,256 


583.4<0 


2,308 


63.800 


6,293 


153,696 


42.903 


328,608 



114 



FRATERNAL ORDERS 



The enormous membership of the rela- 
tively numerous Fraternal Orders is ex- 
plained by their beneficiary or "protec- 
tion " features, which vary greatly, and not 
only include a death benefit varying from 
$100 to $5,000, but insurance against sick- 
ness, disability, and accident, and, in in- 
stances, a funeral benefit, and a benefit at 
the death of the wife of a member, while 
one Order erects a monument over the grave 
of every deceased member, to cost $100. 



Name of Okdek. 



Independent Order Mutual Aid . ^ 

Independent Order of Foresters 

Independent Western Star Order 

Knights and Ladies of Honor 

Knights and Ladies of Security 

Knights and Ladies of the Fireside 

Knights and Ladies of the Golden Star 

Knights of Columbus 

Knights of Father Mathew 

Knights of Honor 

Knights of Pythias, Endowment Rank 

Knights of St. John and Malta 

Knights of Sobriety, Fidelity, and Integrity. 

Knights of the Golden Eagle. 

Knights of the Maccabees 

Ladies' Catholic Benevolent Association.... 

Ladies of the Maccabees 

Legion of the Red Cross 

Loyal Additional Benefit Association 

Loyal Mystic Legion of America 

Low German Gr. Lodge of the U. S. of N. A. 

Masonic Protective Association 

Modern Woodmen of America 

Mutual Protection, Order of 

Mystic Workers of the World 

National Benevolent Society 

National Protective Legion 

National Provident Union 

National Reserve Association 

National Union 

New England Order of Protection 

Northwestern Legion of Honor 

North American Union 

Pilgrim Fathers, United Order of 

Protected Home Circle 

Ridge by Protection Association 

Royal Arcanum 

Royal Circle 

Royal League 

Royal Neighbors of America 

Royal Temple of Temperance 

Royal Tribe of Joseph 

Scottish Clans, Order of 

Shield of Honor 

Supreme Council, Home Circle 

Supreme Council, Legion of Honor 

Supreme Court of Honor 

Supreme Lodge, Nat. Reserve Association.. 
Supreme Lodge, Order of Columbian Kts. . 
Supreme Ruling, Fraternal Mystic Circle.. . 

United Friends, Order of 

United Friends of Michigan 

Women's Catholic Order of Foresters 

Woodmen of the World 

Workmen's Benefit Association 



Mem- 
bership, 



4,950 

124,685 

2,973 

66,437 

18,427 

2,405 

5,304 

17,576 

3,480 

89,679 

51,715 

3,788 

4,273 

2,236 

217,068 

32,273 

26,380 

4,012 

5.373 

3,606 

5,560 

4,060 

259,584 

4.589 

2.515 

2,509 

5,320 

3,972 

4,336 

46,602 

21,950 

2,496 

2,717 

23,039 

23,652 

10,078 

195,105 

3,199 

15,100 

12,120 

12,435 

3,178 

4,335 

9,659 

6,293 

3,396 

24,217 

3,241 

4,594 

12,181 

10,491 

3,246 

13,869 

97,811 

5,341 



Amount 

Claims 

Paid, 

1897. 



122,000 

992,226 

7,500 

1,191.500 

168,967 

12,333 

60.828 

87,000 

45,200 

3,918,264 

1,108,180 

52,000 

60,598 

43,000 

1,754,926 

179,500 

131,450 

36,200 

86,000 

11,000 

14.500 

11,472 

1,905,250 

54,930 

7,000 

8,468 

79,952 

163,850 

18,500 

1,239,470 

294,000 

35,250 

13,000 

352,000 

157,500 

28,503 

5,210,823 

6,100 

307,875 

31,500 

333,467 

11,975 

39,750 

106.000 

153,695 

96,000 

88,300 

31,000 

26,101 

177,500 

415,608 

49,284 

62,000 

1,088,558 

29,000 



The total membership of the foregoing list is 
2,557,374. Amount of benefits paid ill 1897, $41,- 
070,746. Total payments from 1867 to 1897 were 
over $420,000,000. 



But these societies go farther by cultivat- 
ing a spirit of fraternity and by encourag- 
ing centres of intellectual, aesthetic, and so- 
cial development, which often take the place 
of the club. The names of many of the 
Orders are pretentious and some ridiculous. 
In mauy instances the titles of executive 
officers sound out of place ; but not more so 
than a few employed in older and larger 
societies. The tendency appears to still be 
for the multiplication of Fraternal Orders. 
In the latter half of the previous century 
very few new secret societies made their 
appearance, the fascination of Freemasonry 
for intelligent men leading them rather to 
amplify than to imitate. A result was that 
more than 1,000 Masonic and other degrees 
were invented, most of which are fortu- 
nately dead. But during the latter third of 
the nineteenth century activity in secret 
society lines has been transferred to Amer- 
ica, where the bent seems to have been to 
invent new secret societies, legions, .circles, 
unions, or orders — most of them designed 
to provide machinery for collecting assess- 
ments and paying them over to those 
whose misfortunes and the terms of their 
contracts, policies, or certificates make 
them the recipients. These orders are still 
in the formative period, and much remains 
to be done before any of the systems of 
levying assessments can be generally recog- 
nized as a near approach to perfection. As 
a result there are many weakling bene- 
ficiary societies, and a number are fore- 
doomed to failure. When the stronger and 
more progressive orders shall have demon- 
strated the character and extent of their 
work by employing substantially the same 
system of assessments, there will be fewer 
weak and imperfect. The tendency will 
then be to have less and less to do with the 
secrecy of which so much and yet so little 
is made to-day, and combination or con- 
solidation will appear to complete a suc- 
cessful, cooperative machine for ameli- 
orating the ills the human flesh is heir to. 
The beneficiary societies as constituted 



FRATERNAL ORDERS 



115 



to-day may be divided into four general 
classes : 

(1) Those which bind themselves to 
bury their dead, and to furnish stated relief 
to members who may be sick, disabled, etc., 
irrespective of the need of such members 
for pecuniary assistance ; 

(2) Regular death benefit, mutual assess- 
ment societies ; 

(3) Death benefit orders of the short- 
term variety, which seek to couple mutual 
assessment life-insurance with the tontine 
plan and pay back to surviving members 
who shall have made regular payments, 
etc., for a certain number of years, the full 
amount of their assessments, or premiums, 
in some instances with interest added. The 
success which temporarily attended a few of 
the better-known short-term orders which 
are dead, appeared to be due to surviving 
members being relatively few, and lapsed 
memberships comparatively numerous. 

(4) The fourth group is not a large one, 
comprising the few orders which have 
sought to render the Building and Loan 
Association more attractive by reason of 
becoming a secret order. 

The accompanying tabular exhibit of 
statistics of membership of twenty-six of the 
larger and more important national and 
international secret societies in the United 
States, with totals arranged by States and 
Territories, in conjunction w r ith those of 
membership abroad, must prove of interest 
to members of the organizations named, as 
well as to students of the sociological aspects 
of the growth and development of secret 
societies. This presentation has been pre- 
pared after prolonged correspondence with 
those best fitted to con tribute data, and repre- 
sents the latest available comparative totals 
of all the organizations. The Loyal Orange 
Institution is omitted because of its prefer- 
ence not to make public details as to mem- 
bership. Totals for the Ancient Order of 
Hibernians refer to only one branch, Board 
of America, members of the Board of Erin 
preferring not to send totals by States. It 



should be added that both branches of the 
Hibernians are now united. The grouping 
includes, in addition to totals for the Masonic 
Fraternity, information from the following 
charitable and benevolent secret societies : 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Inde- 
pendent Order of Good Templars, Sons 
of Temperance, Knights of Pythias, Inde- 
pendent Order of Red Men, Foresters of 
America, Grand Army of the Republic, 
Ancient Order of Hibernians, Knights of 
Malta, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons 
(negro), and Grand United Order of Odd 
Fellows (negro). 

Among the so-called Patriotic Orders, 
official returns have been received from the 
following : Junior Order, United American 
Mechanics; Order of United American Me- 
chanics ; Patriotic Order, Sons of America ; 
Order of the American Union, and Ameri- 
can Protective Association (A. P. A.) 

Statistics of the Patrons of Husbandry 
have also been included, as well as details 
respecting membership of the following 
death and other benefit societies : Ancient 
Order of United Workmen, Royal Arcanum, 
Modern Woodmen of America, Knights of 
the Maccabees, Knights of Honor, Knights 
and Ladies of Honor, Knights of the Golden 
Eagle, and Woodmen of the World. 

Figures furnished by the American Pro- 
tective Association and the Order of the 
American Union are official, but do not 
seem to be sufficiently in accord with the 
situation to be of great value for compari- 
son. Omitting totals for these two organi- 
zations, it is found that twenty-four of the 
more important secret fraternities, out of 
nearly 350 having an active existence, 
numbered 4,548,840 members in the United 
States in 1895-96. It is probable that with 
the added membership of more than three 
hundred others, many of them small socie- 
ties, the grand total would approximate 
6,000,000, thus pointing to nearly 4,000,000 
adults, members of secret fraternities in 
the United States, after allowing for the 
usual proportion belonging to two or more 



116 



FRATERNAL ORDERS 



organizations; nearly one in three of the 
voting population of the country. 

The relative numerical strength of the 
four larger societies in the various States 
and Territories is made plain by an accom- 
panying map (see Preface), on which their 
names are marked in order, according to 
membership in those States and Territories. 
Eeference to the geographical chart shows 
that there are more members of the Masonic 
than of any other secret fraternity in Maine, 
Vermont, Connecticut, New York, Ken- 
tacky, Missouri, District of Columbia, Vir- 
ginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Ten- 
nessee, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, 
Arkansas, and Indian Territory ; and more 
members of the Odd Fellows in Massachu- 
setts, Ehode Island, Pennsylvania, New Jer- 
sey, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, 
Wyoming, Colorado, Oklahoma, Washing- 
ton, California, and Nevada ; of the Ancient 
Order of United Workmen in Delaware, 
Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, 
Montana, Idaho, Nebraska, Kansas, Oregon, 
and Arizona ; of the Knights of Pythias 
in Louisiana and New Mexico; of the 
Patrons of Husbandry in New Hampshire; 
Junior Order of United American Mechan- 
ics in Maryland; Knights of the Maccabees 
in Michigan; Modern Woodmen of America 
in Illinois and Wisconsin; and the negro 
Freemasons in Georgia. Other societies 
finding a place among the first four in point 
of number, in one or more States, are the 
Good Templars; Grand Army of the Repub- 
lic ; Foresters of America ; Royal Arcanum ; 
Patriotic Order, Sons of America; Improved 
Order of Red Men; Knights of Honor; 
and the negro Odd Fellows. 

Pennsylvania is the banner secret society 
State, contributing more than 850,000 mem- 
bers of twenty-four organizations whose 
totals are considered in the accompanying 
statistics of membership, 19 per cent, of the 
grand total in all States and Territories. 
New York stands second, with 724,000 
members of the twenty-four fraternities, 16 
per cent, of the grand total for the country; 



Illinois third, with more than 513,000 mem- 
bers, or about 11 per cent.; Ohio fourth, 
with 10 per cent. ; Massachusetts fifth, with 
8 per cent. ; Michigan sixth, with more than 
7 per cent. ; and Indiana seventh, with 7 per 
cent., the seven States accounting for four- 
fifths of the aggregate American member- 
ship of the twenty-four fraternities speci- 
fied. 

The payment of benefits or insurance by 
means of assessments, graded according to 
age at time of joining, is apparently (1898) 
most popular among societies in the Frater- 
nal Congress. Of the forty-five fraternities 
reports have been received from thirty-six, of 
which twenty-seven report the above plan in 
operation, eight of the remaining nine 
being equally divided between the merits of 
the premium system proper and what may 
be called the step-rate plan of assessment, in- 
creasing at regular intervals with the age of 
the insured. In the remaining society the 
benefits are graded according to the age, 
while the assessments are fixed and uniform. 
The Ancient Order of .United Workmen 
reports twenty-one jurisdictions using the 
straight, ungraded assessment plan and thir- 
teen the step-rate assessment. The Order 
of United Friends changed on January 1, 
1898, to the step or group plan of assess- 
ment, increasing at each five years. Two 
other societies are considering a similar 
change. There is some variation in the 
amount of insurance paid. A benefit of 
from $50 to $2,000 is paid by the Knights 
and Ladies of the Golden Star, while the 
Catholic Benevolent Legion, the National 
Provident Union, the Home Circle, the In- 
dependent Order of Foresters, the American 
Legion of Honor, the National Union, and 
the Improved Order of Heptasophs pay from 
$500 to $5,000. Seven out of thirty-six or- 
ders report paying sick benefits; nine others 
report such benefits optional with the local 
or subordinate bodies; while nineteen, or 
more than one-half, report none. In the 
majority of cases where paid, such benefits 
are the result of the work of the local 



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118 



FRATERNAL ORDERS 



bodies, and are not part of £he duty of the 
parent societies. More than one-half of 
these societies report varying grades of bene- 
fits payable in case of accident involving 
partial or total disability, such as the loss of 
one or more limbs or eyes, incapacity from 
old age (seventy years being a common 
period), paralysis, or other causes. The 
payment of one-tenth to one-half of the 
face of the member's benefit certificate upon 
the occurrence of any of these disabilities 
seems quite general. Payment of funeral 
expenses is a feature of several societies, but 
almost always of local lodges or bodies. Six- 
teen out of thirty-six societies report no 
benefits payable by reason of total or partial 
disability. The replies indicate that weekly 
sick benefits are often payable out of dues 
of local lodges, whereas the other benefits 
are more generally defrayed by means of 
assessments. 

It is of interest to note that the rate of 
mortality in thirty societies during the third 
year of the existence of each of them aver- 
aged 4.10 per 1,000, while during the last 
fiscal year (1897) the average death-rate per 
1,000 was 9.50, and the average age of the 
societies showing this death-rate about fif- 
teen years. In twenty-eight societies the 
average cost per $1,000 for such benefits 
paid in 1897 was $9.22, whereas the same 
companies reported the cost when those so- 
cieties were only three years of age at $5.04. 
The need of an adequate reserve to provide 
for emergencies does not seem to have im- 
pressed all of these societies alike. Only 
about one-half of the fraternities, members of 
the Congress, report having reserve funds. 
The method of raising such funds varies 
with the societies, but generally it is by 
means of assessments upon members. Some 
organizations set apart a certain percentage 
of such assessments as a reserve fund. In 
Massachusetts and other States the banking 
laws, under which insurance societies oper- 
ate, require reserve funds and direct how 
they shall be invested. The American Le- 
gion of Honor has a reserve of $500,000 in- 



vested as provided by law. The Ancient 
Order of United Workmen raise $1,000,000 
annually by a tax of $3 per member. Some 
societies have a reserve in the shape of one 
assessment in advance. As a general thing 
the reserve, where possessed, is invested in 
United States or State and municipal bonds 
and first mortgages on real estate. The Or- 
der of Select Friends adopted a reserve plan 
at the close of 1897. The National Reserve 
Association plan of insurance is very like 
that of old-line companies, except for the 
reserve element in the latter's premiums. 
Average age of death benefit members in 
twenty -four societies at the end of the first 
three years of the societies' existence is 
placed at about 36.40, while the average 
age in the same societies in the last fiscal 
year is placed at 40.30, showing the intro- 
duction of younger members. The replies 
as to cost of management show an increase 
per capita as the societies advance in years. 
The average of the replies of twenty-seven 
fraternities shows that the per capita cost 
of management during the last year was 
about $1.65 per member, whereas when 
these societies were three years old their per 
capita cost was only $1.48. Some societies 
reckon the cost of management per mem- 
ber as a fixed sum and report it year after 
year. Others, like the Royal Arcanum, the 
Royal League, the Modern Woodmen of 
America, the Knights of the Maccabees, 
Legion of the Red Cross, Knights and 
Ladies of Security, Woodmen of the World, 
National Reserve Association, and the Na- 
tional Union show a decreased cost of man- 
agement per member now as compared with 
the third year of their existence. 

The irregularity and incompleteness of 
replies received from beneficiary organiza- 
tions not members of the Fraternal Con- 
gress is testimony to the value of organi- 
zation in fraternal insurance as* well as in 
other lines of business. There are, of course, 
some honorable exceptions, but the statistics 
of operation of these organizations are not 
generally satisfactory. Among fraternities 



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120 



FRATERNAL ORDERS 



not members of the Fraternal Congress the 
popularity of the "assessment according to 
age " plan is shown by their records. Of 
the thirty societies reporting, seventeen are 
using the plan. The following is a list of 
them : 

Canadian Order of Foresters. 

Catholic Mutual Benefit Association. 

Catholic Women's Benevolent Legion. 

Commercial Travelers' Association. 

Golden Star Fraternity. 

Independent Order B'nai B'rith. < -" 

Knights and Ladies of Honor. 

Knights of Columbus. 

Knights of Pythias, Endowment Rank. 

Loyal Knights and Ladies. 

Modern American Fraternal Order. 

Mystic Workers of the AVorld. 

National Fraternity. 

Grand United Order of Odd Fellows. 

Order of Scottish Clans. 

Union Fraternal League. 

Western Knights Protective Association. 

Among the above the amount of benefits 
paid varies from $50 to $3,000, most of 
them paying $500 to $2,000. Twelve of 
them report no benefits paid by the Order 
as a whole, the same being optional with 
subordinate bodies. Partial and permanent 
disability is provided for, however, by many 
of these societies. A tendency toward an 
increased death-rate as they grow older is 
noted, and a similar increase in the cost of 
this form of insurance per thousand. Dues 
of local branches seem to be the basis of 
the sick benefits, while regular assessments 
are generally relied on to defray other bene- 
fits. About one-half of these organizations 
rejDort reserve or emergency funds; statis- 
tics of age and cost of management are very 
incomplete. 

The same general conclusions are to be 
obtained from an examination of the statis- 
tics of similar societies doing business under 
different plans. Two, the American Insur- 
ance Union and the Knights of the Golden 
Eagle, use the step-rate assessment, while 
the Fraternal Tribunes, the Progressive- 



Endowment Guild, and the Prudent Patri- 
cians of Pompeii collect insurance premiums 
suggestive of a revival of the systems used 
by old-line companies. The Independent 
Order Free Sons of Israel, Independent Or- 
der Sons of Abraham, Independent Order 
Sons of Benjamin, and the Order of Sparta 
pay benefits by means of uniform, straight, 
ungraded assessments, while in the Order 
of the Iroquois and in the Brotherhood of 
Eailway Conductors, benefits and not assess- 
ments or contributions are graded accord- 
ing to age. The Continental Fraternal 
Union is an endowment association, while 
the Foresters of America, which formerly 
had such a plan, has discontinued it. The 
Grand Fraternity is unique in that it pays 
annuities for partial or total disability, or 
to widows and orphans or other relatives at 
the death of members. 

Among the distinctively friendly socie- 
ties, those which aim to relieve distress and 
pay funeral expenses among members, and 
to assist those whom death has robbed of 
support, are the following: 

Independent Order of Odd Fellows. 

United Ancient Order of Druids. 

Ancient Order of Foresters. 

Ancient Order of Hibernians. 

Jr. Order United American Mechanics. 

Actors' Order of Friendship. 

Independent Order of Mechanics. 

Improved Order of Red Men. 

Sons of St. George. 

National Protective Society. 

Shepherds of Bethlehem. 

Ancient and Illustrious Order of Knights 
of Malta. 

In only one instance, the Sons of St. 
George, and then in only a few States, does 
the benefit paid at the death of a member 
exceed $250. In one instance, the Inde- 
pendent Order of Mechanics, the amount 
paid falls as low as $20, and runs as high as 
$25. In the instances of the Ancient Order 
of Hibernians, the Ancient and Illustrious 
Order of Knights of Malta, the Improved 
Order of Red Men, the Independent Order 



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122 



AMERICAN BENEFIT SOCIETY 



of Odd Fellows, and the Ancient United 
Order of Druids the governing body does 
not recognize the payment of either insur- 
ance or death benefits. Subordinate lodges, 
courts, groves, or tribes employ a death 
benefit system in whole or in part. In 
some States a few of these organizations, 
notably the Ancient Order of Hibernians in 
Pennsylvania, contract for insurance with 
regular insurance companies. The sick 
benefit, weekly, monthly, or otherwise, is a 
recognized institution among the societies 
named, and where systematically paid varies 
from $2 to $15 weekly. Medical attendance 
and medicines are paid for by subordinate 
bodies of some of these societies, while the 
payment of specific sums for burial ex- 
penses is general. The National Protective 
Society pays an accident benefit. Eaising 
these funds is provided for generally from 
dues, although a few of the societies rely 
upon assessments. The necessity for ac- 
cumulating a reserve or emergency fund is 
recognized in at least one half of the frater- 
nities named, but in others dependence seems 
to be placed on the weekly or other dues and 
assessments. In the Ancient Order of For- 
esters, in which dues are graded according 
to age at entry, its various treasurers held 
at the close of 1896 $29,137,745, an increase 
of $1,052,595 in that year. The Actors' 
Order of Friendship, from the circumstances 
of the case a small society, reports $20,000 
in the treasury. Statistics of the death rate 
per thousand and cost of insurance among 
these friendly societies are naturally affected 
by the irregular nature of the benefits paid 
and systems of dues and assessments, and are 
therefore unclassifiable. 

American Benefit Society. — This is 
one of the smaller mutual assessment bene- 
ficiary fraternities ; but although incor- 
porated as late as 1893, by Charles EL Burr, 
George B. Stevens, Lewis N. Cushman, 
George H. Johnson, Daniel T. Buzzell, Ja- 
cob Billings, Jr., and Samuel Shaw, of 
Massachusetts, it already numbers nearly 
five thousand members, and is growing rap- 



idly. It issues certificates to members for 
$250, $500, $1,000, or $2,000, and Lodges 
pay weekly sick benefits, and dues and as- 
sessments of members while sick, in their 
option. Its method of assessment to meet 
death benefits is approved by some of the 
best fraternal actuaries in the country, and, 
as in only one of two other instances among 
like organizations, a formal initiation is not 
necessary to acquire membership. The cere- 
mony of initiation is said to be simple, yet 
dignified, but those who prefer may take the 
obligation before a supreme officer and se- 
cure membership as effectually as at a reg- 
ular meeting. Men and women between the 
ages of eighteen and forty-five, who may be 
socially acceptable, believers in a Supreme 
Being, and able to earn a livelihood, are 
eligible to membership. The organization 
will not enter any except the more health- 
ful regions of northern States, and at pres- 
ent has Lodges in all the New England 
States. Its published list of some of its 
better known certificate holders includes 
governors of States and a long list of State, 
national, and municipal officials. There are 
also found the names of prominent officers 
of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, 
Knights of Honor, Eoyal Arcanum, Koyal 
Society of Good Fellows, Workmen's Bene- 
fit Association, Improved Order of Hepta- 
sophs, American Legion of Honor, Good 
Templars, Order of the Golden Cross, Im- 
proved Order of Eed Men, Independent 
Order of Odd Fellows, and Freemasons. 
The list of lawyers, physicians, bank offi- 
cials, editors, publishers, and business men 
throughout New England who are identified 
with the Society would prove an addition to 
any similar organization. The headquar- 
ters of the society are at Boston. 

American Benevolent Legion. — A 
newly organized mutual assessment bene- 
ficiary society, with headquarters at San 
Francisco. 

American Fraternal Insurance 
Union. — Organized at Batavia, N. Y., 
within the past few years, a beneficiary and 



AMERICAN LEGION OF HONOR 



123 



social association for men and women. Its 
Lodges are scattered through western New 
York. 

American Insurance Union. — Organ- 
ized at Columbus, 0., 1894, by members of 
the Fraternal Mystic Circle, who were dis- 
satisfied with the course pursued by the 
latter, as well as by members of the Na- 
tional Union, of the Knights of Pythias, 
the Odd Fellows, and the Masonic Frater- 
nity. It partially paralleled the increasing 
rate of assessments, according to age, 
which had done so much to build up and 
strengthen the National Union, and provides 
for death, total disability, and old age bene- 
fits. The form of government is the usual 
one in similar secret beneficiary societies, 
and includes local and State Chapters, to- 
gether with a National (or supreme) Chapter, 
the highest legislative authority. Member- 
ship is confined to men and women between 
15 and 49 years of age, residing in the 
more healthful portions of the United 
States, " who are engaged in preferred oc- 
cupations." Death benefits of sums rang- 
ing from $500 to 83,000, permanent total 
disability benefits of from $250 to $1,500, 
and old age benefits of like amounts are 
paid, and the Union is under the super- 
vision of the insurance department of the 
State of Ohio. The ritual teaches "All 
for one and one for all," which suggests the 
motto of the Knights of Labor, but is in- 
terpreted differently. The emblem consists 
of a circular band containing thirteen stars, 
and in them the letters forming the words 
"Help in Need," the whole surrounding 
the initial letters of the name of the organ- 
ization. While among the younger of sim- 
ilar societies, the Union, which started out 
with 500 members, has enjoyed rapid in- 
crease in membership and gives promise of 
realizing the anticipations of those who 
created it. 

American Order of Druids. — Organ- 
ized by William Pearson and William A. 
Dunn, at Fall Eiver, Mass., and chartered 
May 17, 1888, under the laws of the State 



of Massachusetts. Its first Council was 
organized at Fall River, July 9, 1888. It 
forms one of several secret, fraternal, bene- 
ficiary organizations to which men and 
women are both eligible, which confine 
their operations to the New England States. 
Among its founders were members of the 
Grand United Order of Druids in the 
United States, the Ancient Order of 
United Workmen, and the United Order of 
Pilgrim Fathers. It pays sick and death 
benefits by means of assessments. It has 
2,300 members. 

American Legion of Honor. — One of 
the best known among the larger and more 
popular fraternal, social, and beneficiary 
assessment societies, founded by Dr. Darius 
Wilson and nine others of Boston, Decem- 
ber 18, 1878. It admits to membership 
white men and women, between 18 and 50 
years of age, and is governed by a Supreme 
Council. Subordinate Councils, which are 
widely scattered throughout the Union, are 
directed in matters of local interest by 
Grand or State Councils, representatives 
from which, and all Past Supreme Com- 
manders, make up the Supreme Council. 
The ritualistic and initiatory features are 
less pronounced than those of most similar 
societies in the United States. Prospective 
members are informed that initiatory cere- 
monies, if objected to, may be dispensed 
with by assuming a formal obligation at 
any convenient time and place. Originally 
the maximum age of eligibility to member- 
ship was 64 years, but this was reduced to 
50 years in 1885. The Order insures the 
lives of its members for $1,000, $2,000, and 
$3,000 each, at their option, certificates 
of Avhich carry a graduated weekly relief 
benefit. Some of the founders were among 
those who organized the Eoyal Arcanum, 
and one, Dr. Wilson, was connected with 
the Knights of Honor. Since its founda- 
tion the Order has paid more than $30,000,- 
000 in death and relief benefits. The pro- 
portion of women to men among its mem- 
bership in 1894 was about as one to seven. 



124 



ANCIENT ORDER, KNIGHTS OF THE MYSTIC CHAIN 



The American Legion of Honor suffered 
from increased expenses, death rate, and lack 
of new members during 1895 and 1896, as 
did some other similar organizations. Mem- 
bers accounted for the situation by " un- 
usually heavy assessments in 1896," owing 
to "increased debts," the "hard times," 
and a "smaller proportion of new mem- 
bers," which a grand total of 36,028 mem- 
bers December 31, 1896, compared with 
53,210 on December 31, 1895, and 62,457 
at the close of 1889 (the maximum), would 
seem to confirm. Leading members of the 
Supreme Council are men of experience in 
fraternal insurance societies, and with co- 
operation from the rank and file of the 
Order were able to so conduct the society's 
affairs as to restore tbe prosperity the or- 
ganization previously enjoyed. The chief 
emblem of the Legion is a modification of 
the cross of the French Legion of Honor, 
which has the Maltese Cross for its model, 
and has been conspicuous, under various 
forms, as the basis of so many decorations. 
In 1879, the year following the founding 
of the American Legion of Honor, the Iowa 
Legion of Honor, a similar society, was or- 
ganized at Cedar Eapids, and does busi- 
ness in that State only. In 1884 the 
Northwestern Legion of Honor was organ- 
ized and incorporated to do business in 
Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota, North 
and South Dakota. 

Ancient Order, Knights of the Mys- 
tic Chain. — This secret organization is con- 
spicuous among the hundred-and-one of the 
last generation by reason of its not having 
been started as a mutual insurance society. 
Its high-sounding title becomes simpler 
when it is realized that this modern broth- 
erhood is founded on traditions and fancies 
which hedge themselves about King Arthur 
and the Knights of the Eound Table, 
whence the designation, "Ancient Order." 
One is compelled to compare it with the 
Order of Foresters rather than the Odd Fel- 
lows, for the basis of the rituals of the first 
two are found in English romance, and are 



beautiful, popular, and attractive. Both 
Odd Fellows and Foresters' societies have 
similar purposes, and differ from Freema- 
sonry. The point to this lies in the resem- 
blance of the Ancient Order, Knights of 
the Mystic Chain to the Odd Fellows and 
Foresters, in the face of the fact that it is 
the creation of Freemasons, and bears many 
imprints of the handiwork of the Craft. 
Not until eighteen years after it was founded 
did the Sir Knights of the Mystic Chain 
incorporate an insurance feature like those 
adopted by so many other secret societies 
founded in the past thirty years. The 
Ancient Order, Knights of the Mystic Chain 
was founded at Eeading, Pa., February 2, 
1871, by John 0. Matthew, locomotive en- 
gineer on the Philadelphia and Reading 
Eailroad, and John M. Brown, merchant. 
John 0. Matthew was alive in 1897, blind 
and helpless, the charge of subordinate Cas- 
tles of Pennsylvania. John M. Brown died 
June 10, 1880. Both founders were Free- 
masons, and the emblem of the Order, em- 
bodying the All-Seeing Eye over the holy 
Bible upon an altar, suggests the earlier 
influences surrounding it, yet at the first 
initiation ceremony . twenty-one Knights 
of Pythias became Knights of the Mystic 
Chain. 

The purposes of the Order are to relieve 
brethren in sickness, accident, or distress ; 
mutual assistance in business and to procure 
employment ; to assist and care for widows 
and orphans of deceased members ; to create 
greater love for country, homes, and fire- 
sides ; to teach obedience and fidelity to the 
laws of the country in which they live, and 
to bind together the members of the Order 
in one common brotherhood. Partisanship 
and sectarianism are excluded. The motto 
or ensign is " Loyalty, Obedience, and Fi- 
delity ;" and the "mark "is a pentagon, 
bearing on each of its sides an inverted lower 
half of an isosceles triangle, the whole sug- 
gesting one form of a Maltese cross of five 
arms. This furnishes five distinct fields, in 
the first of which, white, is an open book ; 



ANCIENT ORDER, KNIGHTS OF THE MYSTIC CHAIN 



125 



In the second, blue, a shield and spear ; in 
the third, red, skull and cross bones ; in the 
fourth, red, crossed swords ; in the fifth, 
black, the All-Seeing Eye ; and in the 
centre, letters, the meaning of which is 
known only to Mark degree members. On 
the reverse, in the centre field is an em- 
bossed castle, which is the mark of the 
highest rank. There are slight changes for 
those lower in rank or degree. 

The Order has four branches, all of which 
are subordinate to the Supreme Castle. 
They are, first, the civic branch, with the 
Supreme Castle, Select (State) Castles, and 
subordinate Castles, which initiate mem- 
bers ; second, the military rank, or degree ; 
third, the insurance benefit fund ; and, 
fourth, the degree of Naomi, or Daughters 
of Ruth. Subordinate Castles send two 
Past Commanders yearly as representatives 
to Select Castles. Every Past Commander 
is a member of a Select Castle, but has no 
vote on questions of law, unless elected a 
representative. Past Commanders of subor- 
dinate Castles vote for a Past Select Com- 
mander as representative to the Supreme 
Castle. Each State is allowed one represen- 
tative to the Supreme Castle for every one 
thousand members, but no State can elect 
more than ten such. The Supreme Castle, 
of course, is the highest authority in the 
Order. 

Three degrees are conferred in subordi- 
nate Castles, which every member must re- 
ceive in order to participate in the benefit 
fund : 1. White, or Esquire degree ; 2. 
Blue, or Sir Knight's degree ; and 3. Red, 
or Round Table degree. The fourth degree 
is only for those who wish to connect them- 
selves with the military rank. All past 
officers of subordinate Castles receive from 
the Select Castle a Past Commander's or 
Mark degree, which puts them in possession 
of the essentials to gain admission to the Se- 
lect Castle, and after they shall have passed 
through the chairs makes them members 
of the State Body. The Supreme Castle 
confers the Supreme degree, which makes 



recipients members of the Supreme Castle, 
but without a vote, unless elected represen- 
tatives. While there is nothing Masonic 
in this arrangement, yet Ereemasons prob- 
ably helped to plan it. 

In the Esquire degree the candidate is 
instructed in the fundamental principles of 
the Order by a reference to the Good Samar- 
itan ; in the Sir Knight's degree, in the 
lesson to be learned from the chivalry of 
the time of King Arthur, and the impor- 
tance of exercising love, mercy, friendship, 
benevolence, and charity toward his fellow- 
men ; while in the third, or Round Table 
degree, the candidate is impressed with the 
uncertainty of life and the certainty of 
death. 

On February 2, 1871, Matthew Castle, 
No. 1, was instituted at Reading, Pa., being 
named after one of the founders. On July 
17th, the same year, the Eirst Select Castle 
was instituted at Reading, and on Septem- 
ber 16, 1871, the Supreme Castle of the Or- 
der was instituted at the same city. For 
a time progress was slow, due in part to the 
financial depression following the panic of 
1873. But ten years later, when the Select 
Castle of Pennsylvania met for the second 
time at Reading, there were sixty subordi- 
inate Castles reported, with a total (Penn- 
sylvania) membership of 2,500. About 
that time the Order began to gain strength 
in New Jersey and Delaware, where Select 
Castles had been established, and by 1890 
Select Castles had been placed in New 
York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Delaware, 
Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and 
Ohio. There are also Subordinate Castles 
under the supervision of the Supreme 
Castle in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New 
Hampshire, Michigan, Indiana, and Louisi- 
ana. The Order enters its second quarter 
century with a total membership of about 
40,000, of which 15,000 are in Pennsyl- 
vania, and about 1,000 in the six States 
named in which Castles exist by authority 
of the Supreme Castle, leaving about 24,000 
members in the eight States of Rhode 



126 



ANCIENT ORDER OF FORESTERS 



Island, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, 
Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and 
Ohio. 

The military rank or degree was intro- 
duced by the Supreme Castle in 1880, but 
at that time had no military head, and was 
designed merely to attract members. The 
plan failed, and in 1889 the Supreme Castle 
elected a military head to the rank, with the 
title of Commander- General. The bodies 
were no longer called Commander ies, the 
rank being patterned, as to tactics and uni- 
form, after the United States Army. Arms 
used are the straight sword for all except 
mounted officers, who carry military sabers. 
The Commander-General, who must be a 
member of the Supreme Castle, is elected 
for three years by the commissioned officers 
of the several States. This branch, which 
is now firmly established, is divided into 
companies, battalions, regiments, brigades, 
and divisions. It is " the only military 
secret organization which uses the United 
States Army tactics exclusively, " and in- 
cludes five regiments and three battalions, 
forming one brigade, and seven unattached 
companies, with a total membership, Sep- 
tember, 1896, of 1,680. 

The insurance feature was introduced in 
1889, and is known as the Funeral Benefit 
Eelief Fund. It is controlled by officers 
and a Board of Directors elected by the Su- 
preme Castle, who report annually to that 
body. Participants in the benefits of this 
fund are members of Castles in good stand- 
ing and health, between eighteen and fifty 
years of age, and women members of the 
degree of Naomi, between sixteen and fifty 
years of age. Assessments are twenty cents 
each, payable monthly. The death benefit 
is eighty per cent, of one assessment, but in 
no case shall it exceed $250. Of the re- 
mainder, 15 per cent, is placed in the gen- 
eral fund and 5 per cent, in the sinking 
fund to be invested by the Board of Mana- 
gers. The total membership in this depart- 
ment on December 31, 1896, was 2,278. 
Weekly sick benefits paid by Castles range 



from four to ten dollars. At the death of 
the wife of a member, benefits of from 
thirty to one hundred dollars are paid ; and 
at the death of a member, benefits of from 
fifty to two hundred and fifty dollars. 

The "lady degree/' known as degree of 
Naomi, or Daughters of Euth, was intro- 
duced in 1890. Subordinate bodies are 
called Assemblies. This degree was for- 
merly under the supervision of the Supreme 
Castle, but its growth was so rapid it was 
thought best to allow members to legislate 
for themselves. Each Assembly now elects 
a Past Commander, representative to its 
Grand (State) Assembly, and each Grand 
Assembly elects two representatives to the 
Supreme Castle of the Ancient Order, 
Knights of the Mystic Chain, all of whom 
must be Past Grand Commanders. They 
are admitted to meetings of the Supreme 
Castle only when the latter is working or 
legislating for the degree of Naomi. This 
branch is established in Pennsylvania, New 
York, West Virginia, Virginia, Ohio, New 
Jersey, Ehode Island, New Hampshire, and 
Delaware, and the total membership is 
3,500. Weekly benefits average four dol- 
lars, and death benefits fifty dollars. AH 
men taking the degree of Naomi must be 
members of a Castle. There is no known 
connection between the degree of Naomi, 
or Daughters of Euth, attached to the An- 
cient Order, Knights of the Mystic Chain, 
and any of several other similarly named 
secret societies for men and women. 

Ancient Order of Foresters. — The 
Ancient Order of Foresters in the United 
States is the lineal descendant of the Eng- 
lish Order. The first Court is now dead, 
having been established in Philadelphia in 
1832. When, at the Minneapolis Conven- 
tion, about 53,000 out of 56,000 members 
seceded from English authority and called 
themselves the Ancient Order of Foresters of 
America, it left the remaining Courts of the 
Ancient (English) Order in this country to 
apply for a form of local government to the 
High Court of England, and to begin again 



COURT COOD SPEED HO 20K PHIL , 

J 632 ~, FIRST COURT OF THE 

ROYAL [EHGUSHJ ORDER 
WTORESTERS IN THE US. 

$ f COURT COOD SPEED DESERTS TO 
j THE ANCIENT OWE* OF FORESTERS 
\WNICM SUCCEEDED THE ROYAL OXDi* 



/3*< 



J0& 



si 



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1369 

I 



7SECESSI0N)-INDmNDENT ORDER FORESTERS' 



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ANC ORD OFFORSTS OF AM. 



l&8\ 



taSk 



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I89sM 



(secession) 



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NMECHAfH f .O 
TOFORFSTLRSV& 
OF AMERICA * 



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CANADIAN COURTS A OF. JO/NED I.OF. 



■ i are griffin pcfaua t/o\~ 
1 £ 



(secissto") 



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(SPLIT) 



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O * VS 



as 



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$1 



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CHART SHOWING RELATIONSHIP OF THE AMERICAN AND CANADIAN 

ORDERS OF FORESTERS TO THE PARENT ENGLISH ORDER OF 

THAT ANCIENT AND HONORABLE FRATERNITY. 



128 



ANCIENT ORDER OF GLEANERS 



the work of recruiting its depleted mem- 
bership. Two Subsidiary High Courts 
were granted in 1891, one for the Atlantic, 
Central, and Southern States, and the 
other for remaining States of the Union. 
Within the past six years its increase in 
membership has been noteworthy, the total 
including about 36,000 men and 3,300 
women. Women have been admitted to 
full membership since 1892, notwithstand- 
ing the incorporation in this Order of 
Circles of Companions of the Forest. The 
ritual of the Ancient Order in America has 
been greatly amplified, by permission of 
the High Court of England. Like other 
branches of Foresters, the Ancient Order is 
primarily a sick and funeral benefit society. 
It has an endowment benefit, but it is op- 
tional. Sick and funeral benefits are paid 
from fixed contributions graded according 
to age at entry, and upon Foresters' ex- 
perience tables. Endowments are paid 
from assessments graded according to age 
at entry, based on Foresters' mortality 
tables. Brit'ish Forestry, including Courts 
in the United States, Canada, Bermuda, 
British Guiana, British Honduras, Spain, 
Hawaiian Islands, Holland, British India, 
Malta, New South Wales, New Zealand, 
Peru, Queensland, St. Helena, Cape of Good 
Hope, Natal, South African Republic, South 
Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, on the Gold 
Coast, at Lagos, in Central America, the 
United States of Colombia, British and 
Danish West Indies, Hayti, and West Aus- 
tralia, has paid sick and death benefits since 
1854 in excess of $85,000,000. Prior to the 
date named, returns were incomplete or 
unreliable. This is the great fraternity 
which ranks almost with the Manchester 
Unity Odd Fellows in total membership, in 
distribution throughout the world, and in 
the enormous sums paid annually to sick 
and distressed members. Its present grand 
total membership is nearly 900,000. The pro- 
portion of the membership of the Order in 
the United States is about 4 per cent. Fully 
85 per cent, is found in the United Kingdom. 



Ancient Order of Gleaners. — A com- 
paratively recent fraternal, beneficiary so- 
ciety, organized at Cairo, Mich. 

Ancient Order of Pyramids. — A new 

fraternal, beneficiary society, organized at 
Topeka, Kan. 

Ancient Order of United Workmen 

(1868).— The Ancient Order of United 
Workmen, characterized as the oldest of the 
great fraternal, beneficiary Orders in the 
United States, was founded at Meadville, 
Pa., October 27, 1868, by John Jordon Up- 
church, a Freemason, who, with others, had 
become dissatisfied with and had retired 
from " The League of Friendship, Supreme 
Mechanical Order of the Sun." * The first 
Lodge of the Ancient Order of United 
Workmen was named Jefferson, No. 1, and 
the constitution adopted by it provided that 
only white male persons should be eligible 
to membership; that this provision should 
never be altered, amended, or expunged; 
and that when the total membership should 
amount to one thousand, an insurance office 
should be established and policies issued 
securing at the death of a member not less 
than $500 to be paid to his lawful heirs. 
A Provincial Grand Lodge was formed in 
1869, when the amount of insurance was 
placed at not less than $2,000, and a uni- 
form assessment established of $1. By 1870 
five Lodges were represented at the Provin- 
cial Grand Lodge. As in other Orders, dis- 
sensions arose, and for two years there were 
two rival Grand Lodges. But by 1872 
union and harmony prevailed, and the Or- 
der entered ou a career of growth and pros- 
perity. Its total membership in about 6,000 
Lodges, in 1895, was in excess of 318,000 
in the United States, and nearly 32,000 in 
Canada, a striking record for practically 
twenty-four years of active existence, but 
which is less remarkable than the sum total 
paid to widows and orphans between 1869 
and 1895, more than $70,000,000. The 
government of the Order rests in the 

* Not known to exist to-day. 



ANCIENT ORDER OF UNITED WORKMEN (1868) 



129 



Supreme Lodge, which pays benefits to mem- 
bers or heirs of members of subordinate 
Lodges in a State, Territory, or province 
not having a Grand Lodge of its own, and 
has control of the general laws of the Or- 
der. Grand Lodges under the Supreme 
Lodge control the benefit funds of their own 
States or provincial jurisdictions. In rela- 
tion to its method of insurance, surprise has 
been expressed that the Order has so long- 
continued its successful career, notwith- 
standing its refusal to assess members accord- 
ing to age at initiation, as is done by nearly 
all other of the larger and similar secret so- 
cieties; and by its insistance that its Grand 
(and Provincial) Lodges shall receive and 
disburse all death benefits which are based 
on assessments, made at the uniform rate of 
$1 per capita, irrespective of the fact that 
the death rate varies in different States. 
When the death rate is excessive in any par- 
ticular jurisdiction, and assessments there 
reach a certain point, determined by the 
Supreme Lodge, any additional assessment 
which may be required is met by a levy 
upon the Order as a whole. Sick and 
funeral benefits are not comprised within 
the objects for which the Order was estab- 
lished. It is optional with subordinate 
Lodges to provide the same, or either of 
them, but comparatively few do so. The 
ritual and emblems of the Order betray the 
Masonic influence which has presided at the 
birth of so many modern secret, fraternal, 
beneficiary fraternities. Its objects, covered 
by its watchwords, " Charity, Hope, and 
Protection," are illustrated in its ceremo- 
nies of initiation. As in Masonic and other 
secret societies, it has three degrees; but even 
more significant are the All-Seeing Eve, the 
Holy Bible, anchor, and, singularly enough, 
the square and compasses among its more 
frequently displayed emblems. There is an 
auxiliary branch for women (and men who 
are members of the Order) called the De- 
gree of Honor. This has proved quite as 
popular among the families of members as 
has the Daughters of Kebekah among Odd 
9 



Fellows, the Companions of the Forest 
allied to the Foresters of America, and other 
like societies auxiliary to secret organiza- 
tions for men. Its membership is fully 
40,000, mostly women. In imitation of the 
so-called Masonic "side degree," the Work- 
men, who, by the way, are not necessarily 
artisans, and in no sense constitute a trades 
union, confer what is officially entitled the 
Order of Mogullians. This is said to fur- 
nish amusement as well as substantial bene- 
fits. It would seem to the student of the 
sociological function of secret, assessment, 
beneficiary Orders that while the Ancient 
Order of United Workmen is perhaps the 
oldest and among the more successful of its 
class in the United States, while its affairs 
are managed capably, and its membership 
ranks second only to that of the Odd Fel- 
lows, the Freemasons, and Knights of 
Pythias among non-political secret organi- 
zations, that sooner or later there may de- 
velop a necessity for a revision of its assess- 
ment insurance system in the direction at 
least of a grading of payments according to 
age, and the placing of death benefit funds 
in the hands of the supreme governing body. 
All great and good movements that have 
filled a place in history have shed lustre 
upon the place of their birth. Mt. Vernon 
had its Washington, Springfield its Lincoln, 
and Meadville its Upchurch; and from the 
seed planted by the latter has grown the 
tree of mutual protection, under whose shel- 
ter to-day millions rest in security from 
want and dependence. The Ancient Order 
of United Workmen lays no claim to dis- 
tinction as the originator of the idea of life 
insurance, as that existed many years prior 
to its birth; but its recognized claim to 
originality rests on the fact of its applying 
the principles of life insurance in a novel 
and cheap way, coupled with the care of the 
sick, the relieving of the distressed, and the 
moral, social, and intellectual betterment of 
its membership. The idea of forming a so- 
ciety that should parallel the relief of the 
sick and burial of the dead of the secret, 



130 



ATLANTIC SELF-ENDOWMENT ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA 



fraternal, beneficiary organizations of thirty 
years * and more ago, which, in addition, 
should extend its beneficence to the widows 
and orphans of its deceased members in a 
stipulated sum of money sufficient to secure 
them from want, was an untried experi- 
ment until the organization of the Ancient 
Order of United Workmen. Following in 
its wake, scores of other assessment, secret, 
insurance societies have divided the field of 
life insurance in the United States with the 
old-line companies. From its ranks have 
sprung many organizations of like character. 
Prior to the Civil War protection for widows 
and orphans through the medium of life 
insurance was within the means of the well- 
to-do only. To-day it is the privilege of 
the humblest. The founder of the Order,, 
John Jordon Upchurch, was a mechanic^ 
and in 1868 was in the employ of the Atlan- 
tic and Great Western Railroad. He was 
possessed of no marked literary attainments, 
but was a keen observer of men and events, 
was possessed of good reasoning powers, and, 
above all, a philanthropic nature. His orig- 
inal object was not so much to establish a 
system of insurance as to bring together 
then conflicting social interests, capital and 
labor, to provide means of arbitration with 
which to settle difficulties that were con- 
stantly arising. This feature has since been 
eliminated to make room for that of mutual 
protection. Viewed to-day, the manage- 
ment of the Order at the beginning was 
crude and unbusiness-like, and its success is 
undoubtedly due more to the integrity and 
sincerity of its members and to the rapid 
growth of the Society than to the early em- 
ployment of distinctly business principles. 
The first five years of its history developed 
little success and much opposition. It was 
not until the session of the Grand Lodge of 
Pennsylvania, held at Meadville, Pa., in 
January, 1873, at which time the Order 
numbered only 800 members, that it gave 
promise of real growth. Since the organi- 
zation of the Supreme Lodge in February, 
1873, the Order has prospered almost be- 



yond precedent and ranks to-day among the 
first of its class. Senators M. S. Quay, J. C. 
S. Blackburn, Congressman J. G. Cannon, 
ex-Governor James E. Campbell of Ohio, 
and William Jennings Bryan are members 
of this Order. 

Atlantic Self-Endownient Association 
of America. — Formed at Greenville, S. C. , 
in 1886, to insure the lives of its members 
by means of mutual assessments. Reported 
dead. 

Big- Four Fraternal Life Association. 
— Organized at Denver, Colo., to pay sick 
and death benefits by means of mutual as- 
sessments. 

Canadian Order of Chosen Friends. 
— Formed in 1891 and 1892 by seceding 
members of the Order of Chosen Friends 
resident in the Canadian Dominion. The 
parent Order was arranging to give its Cana- 
dian membership separate jurisdiction in 
order not to antagonize the Dominion in- 
surance laws when the secession took jDlace. 

Canadian Order of Foresters. — Be- 
tween the Canadian branch and the Inde- 
pendent Order of Foresters, from which it 
sprung in 1879, there developed a sharp 
rivalry and antagonism which lasted four or 
five years — in fact, until the latter so far 
outran the Canadian Society in membership 
as to render rivalry out of the question. 
(See Independent Order of Foresters of Illi- 
nois and the Independent Order of Fores- 
ters.) The Canadian Order, of course, is 
only one of four Orders of Forestry in the 
Dominion, the largest being the Indepen- 
dent, from which the Canadian Order se- 
ceded, after which rank the Ancient (Eng- 
lish) Order and (one Court of) the Foresters 
of America. The Canadian Order has pros- 
pered, having increased from 850 members 
in 1880, to nearly 23,000 within seventeen 
years. Like other branches of the tree of 
Forestry, it retains the characteristic titles, 
ritual, legend, and form of government of 
the parent society. It does not seek mem- 
bership out of the Canadian Dominion, and, 
like the Independent Order, charges a fixed 



EMPIRE KNIGHTS OF RELIEF 



131 



monthly premium with which to pay death 
benefits, confining sick and other benefits to 
assessments. It pays 1500, $1,000, $1,500, 
or $2,000 benefits at death, besides sick and 
funeral benefits (which are optional), and 
furnishes members with medical attendance 
free. Since 1879 the Canadian Order has 
paid over $1,297,356 to members and their 
dependents in insurance and benefits. Its 
funds are all invested in Canada, and thus 
far it has reported an exceedingly low death 
rate, only 4.60 per 1,000 in its seventeenth 
year. This, like the Independent Order, 
appears to make a feature of its insurance 
and other beneficial advantages, rather 
more than some other secret, beneficiary 
societies. The seat of government of the 
Society is at Brantford, Ont. 

Circle of the Golden Band. — Auxiliary 
to the Patriarchal Circle of America. (See 
the latter.) 

Colored Brotherhood and Sisterhood 
of Honor. — Organized at Franklin, Ky., 
in 1886, as a social and beneficiary society, 
in which classification it is recorded in cen- 
sus reports for 1890. No further informa- 
tion is obtained concerning it. 

Colored Consolidated Brotherhood. 
— At Atlanta, Tex., the home office of this 
mutual beneficiary society of negroes (as 
given in the tenth census), nothing is known 
of the organization. 

Colmnhian League. — An outgrowth of 
the Ancient Order of United Workmen, the 
parent of modern fraternal beneficiary fra- 
ternities in the United States, Organized at 
Detroit, Mich., October 12, 1896, "the an- 
niversary of the discovery of America by 
Christopher Columbus," by Eev. W. Warne 
Wilson, Past Supreme Master Workman and 
former Grand Eecorder of the Ancient Or- 
der of United Workmen ; William A. Pungs; 
Eev. William Prall, D.D.; Albert P. Jacobs, 
and others. No further action was taken 
until January 1, 1897, when "the prelim- 
inary matters of organization " were contin- 
ued. The necessary two hundred members 
having been obtained, the society was incor- 



porated April 1, 1897, after which the 
growth of the organization was conspicu- 
ously rapid. The withdrawal of Mr. Warne 
and others from the Ancient Order of 
United Workmen was ' i because the Grand 
Lodge refused to adopt certain changes 
which he thought vitally necessary to the 
Order," provision for increasing cost of in- 
surance as the society grows older. Mem- 
bers of the Columbian League will make a 
feature of celebrating October 12th as Co- 
lumbus Day. Men only are eligible to mem- 
bership, all men to social and patriotic 
membership, but only those between eigh- 
teen and fifty years of age in the death bene- 
fit department, which issues certificates of 
*500, $1,000, $1,500, and $2,000 based on 
twelve annual, step-rate assessments, accord- 
ing to age. The founders of the new Order are 
prominent citizens of Michigan, and the soci- 
ety starts out with every prospect for success. 

Danish Brotherhood of America. — 
Founded at Omaha, Xeb., in 1881, a fra- 
ternal, beneficiary society somewhat similar 
to the Order of Modern Woodmen. It pays 
sick and death benefits, and numbers about 
10,000 members in Massachusetts, Connecti- 
cut, Xew York, Michigan, Illinois, Wiscon- 
sin, Xebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, South 
Dakota, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Wash- 
ington, and California. It has paid $500,000 
in benefits. 

Daughters of Hope. — The census of 
1890 gives the address of this mutual assess- 
ment, beneficiary society at Olneyville, E. L, 
where it is not known to the postal authori- 
ties. 

Daughters of the Globe. — Branch of 
or auxiliary to the Knights of the Globe, an 
Illinois social, benevolent, military and 
patriotic fraternal society. (See Knights of 
the Globe.) 

Eastern Star Benevolent Fund of 
America. — See Order of the Star of Beth- 
lehem. 

Empire Knights of Relief. — Organ- 
ized in 1889 at Buffalo, X. Y., and incor- 
porated under the laws of that State as a 



132 



EQUITABLE AID UNION OF AMERICA 



fraternal, beneficiary, assessment insurance 
society. Its published announcements de- 
clare that it has "no secrets or iron-clad 
oaths," but (elsewhere) that members "are 
bound by a solemn obligation " to render 
assistance to any sick or disabled brother in 
need of help. The Supreme Secretary is 
authority for the statement that it is called 
a secret society, "and properly, too." It 
insures members for 81,000, $2,000, or 
$3,000, and makes no restriction with ref- 
erence to extra-hazardous occupations. 
Any temperate, industrious man between 
20 and 55 years of age is eligible to mem- 
bership, providing he can pass the required 
physical examination. One assessment is 
levied each month, whether there has been 
a death or not, the amount collected an- 
nually in excess of the sum required to pay 
death benefits going into the reserve fund. 
A funeral benefit of $100, $200, or $300 is 
paid immediately on proof of death, but is 
deducted from the death benefit, which is 
payable within ninety days. The Empire 
Knights of Belief was founded by promi- 
nent citizens of Buffalo and vicinity, mem- 
bers of the Ancient Order of United Work- 
men, the Eoyal Arcanum, Freemasons, and 
Odd Fellows. The motto of the Order is 
" Benevolence, Philanthropy and Charity," 
and its ritual is based on the Golden Eule and 
inculcates obedience to the moral and civil 
law. The total membership is about 4,000, 
distributed throughout half a dozen States. 
The society has been successful from the 
start and gives promise of continued 
growth and prosperity. 

Equitable Aid Union of America. — 
Organized at Columbus, Warren County, 
Pa., March 22, 1879, and incorporated 
under the laws of Pennsylvania. Four of 
the founders were Freemasons. This secret, 
beneficiary fraternity permitted the forma- 
tion of subordinate Unions, as its Lodges 
are termed, north of 36° 30' north latitude 
in the United States and in the Dominion 
of Canada. It sought to bring men and 
women into its Unions to promote benevo- 



lence, charity, social and mental culture, 
to care for the sick and needy, to aid one 
another in obtaining employment, and to 
assist each other in business. It also in- 
sured members in sums ranging from $325 
to $3,000 by means of assessments of from 
twenty-five cents to $1^ according to age and 
amount. The benefit certificates also pro- 
vided for the payment of specified sums in 
case of accident resulting in physical dis- 
ability. Eligibility to membership ex- 
tended to candidates from 15 to 55 years of 
age. The total membership in twenty-four 
States and in Canada in 1896 was about 
30,000, of which 25,000 were beneficiary 
and 5,000 social members. The official em- 
blem consisted of the initials of the title of 
the Order in a triangle, surrounded by a 
conventionalized sun-burst. The system 
of assessments in the Equitable Aid Union 
suggests the influence of the Ancient Order 
of United Workmen. The government of 
the society is similar to that of other simi- 
lar societies, subordinate Unions being 
under the immediate jurisdiction of Grand 
or State (or provincial) Unions, the offi- 
cers and representatives of the latter mak- 
ing up the Supreme Union, or highest 
legislative authority. In April, 1897, the 
Union suspended payments and went into 
the hands of a receiver. It had fought 
hard to continue its existence, and num- 
bered about 30,000 members, principally in 
the country districts of Ohio, Pennsyl- 
vania, and New York. Less than five 
years before it had $43,000,000 worth of 
policies in force, and not many years pre- 
viously the amount was almost $75,000,000. 
Its decline began in 1891. In 1895 its income 
was $792, 895 and its disbursements $801, 435, 
and its death rate had increased within four 
years from 12.2 to 17.4 per 1,000 annually. 

Equitable League of America. — A 
Baltimore mutual assessment insurance 
Order, organized about ten years ago. 
Died in 1894. 

Fraternal Aid Association. — Organ- 
ized October 14, 1890, at Lawrence, Kan., 



FRATERNAL MYSTIC CIRCLE 



133 



by members of the Ancient Order of .United 
Workmen, Modern Woodmen of America, 
Knights of the Maccabees, and other fra- 
ternal, beneficiary Orders, to insure the lives 
of acceptable white men and women, be- 
tween 18 and 55 years of age, who are not 
engaged in prohibited (hazardous) occupa- 
tions. Honorary membership may be ob- 
tained by specified relatives of beneficiary 
members. The Association also seeks to 
promote fraternity among its members, to 
comfort the sick and distressed, and care 
for surviving relatives of deceased members. 
Sick, total disability, and death benefits are 
provided, the latter in three classes, ranging 
from $1,000 to $3,000. No assessments are 
called until money is needed to meet a claim, 
of which thirty days' notice is given. Its 
government is vested in a General Council, 
composed of its officers and representatives, 
chosen from local or State Councils. The 
Association declines to recruit members in 
the Atlantic Coast and Gulf States from 
Virginia to Texas, inclusive; in Cook County, 
111., and all of Illinois south of Central ia; 
in Milwaukee, Cincinnati, New York city, 
Detroit, St. Louis, San Francisco, Sacra- 
mento, and all other cities having a popula- 
tion of more than 200,000, in which peculi- 
arity it imitates a number of strong and 
prosperous fraternal Orders of the West. 
It has about 3,000 members, a "modern'' 
ritual, and has paid about $100,000 in sick 
and death benefits since it was organized. 
Its emblem is composed of the initials of its 
title about a pair of clasped hands across a 
shield bearing the stars and stripes. 

Fraternal Legion. — A Baltimore bene- 
ficiary society, organized in 1881, to pay 
$1,000 death benefits. Is not known to have 
survived the recent period of trade depres- 
sion. 

Fraternal Mystic Circle. — This organi- 
zation is among the smaller assessment 
beneficiary secret societies. It was formed 
December 9, 1884, to provide safe indemnity 
for young business and professional men 
under the lodge system. Of the five found- 



ers, Milton Barnes, formerly Secretary of 
State for Ohio, died in 1895, but three others 
are still " members of the Order and officers 
of the Supreme Ruling": D. E. Stevens, 
Supreme Mystic Euler ; John G. Reinhard, 
Supreme Treasurer ; and F. S. Wagenhals, 
Supreme Medical Director. Of those that 
made up the membership at the first meet- 
ing, in December, 1884, the following, in 
addition to those above named, are still 
members of the Supreme Killing : John F. 
Follett, Cincinnati, O. ; A. N. Hill, Colum- 
bus, O. ; J. D. Grimes, Dayton, O. ; H. C. 
Drinkle, Lancaster, O. ; and A. N. Ozias, Ra- 
cine,Wis. Messrs. Stevens, Wagenhals, Hill, 
and Follett are Freemasons, some of them 
having taken the Scottish Rite degrees to and 
including the thirty-second. Others named 
are members of Knights of Pythias and 
other well-known secret societies. This 
Order has the usual form of government of 
like fraternities, a Supreme and Grand and 
Subordinate Rulings. The first named is 
the supreme governing body and the final 
court of appeals. A Supreme Executive 
Committee of five manage in the interim, 
between sessions of the Supreme Ruling. 
Grand Rulings (Grand lodges) are insti- 
tuted in a State when the membership 
reaches 500, or the number of Rulings is 15. 
Subordinate Rulings are instituted in health- 
ful localities, where a sufficient number of 
good, eligible, and desirable candidates are 
found, willing to join hands for the mutual 
protection of themselves and families. Sub- 
ordinate Rulings are managed by their mem- 
bers, and naturally become educational cen- 
tres as to the plans and benefits of the Order 
and methods of conducting business. Each 
Subordinate Ruling entitled to one elects a 
Representative to the Grand Ruling an- 
nually, and these Representatives (who 
make up the Grand Ruling) elect one or 
more delegates (as the State may be en- 
titled) to the Supreme Ruling. The special 
purposes of the Order are : 1st, To unite 
acceptable men, between the ages of 18 and 
49 years, to carry out all that which is 



134 



FRATERNAL TRIBUNES 



included within the meaning of the word 
"fraternity;" 2d, To make provision that 
each Subordinate Lodge shall, from its 
general fund, pay dues and assessments of 
sick or disabled members, maturing during 
such sickness or disability ; 3d, The pay- 
ment of the amount specified in the certi- 
ficate of membership ($500 to $3,000) to the 
beneficiaries at the death of a member ; 
4th, Payment to a member of one-half of 
the sum named in his certificate of mem- 
bership in case permanent total disability 
overtakes him ; 5 th, The creation of an 
Emergency or Equalization Fund, to pre- 
vent the number of assessments exceeding 
twelve in any year ; 6th, The collection of a 
General Eund to meet the expenses of the 
Supreme Euling. During twelve years the 
Order has paid to members and beneficiaries 
in death and permanent total disability 
benefits almost $1,000,000, and the emer- 
gency fund has to its credit over $125,000, 
while the annual cost to members has been 
small. In 1895 it was as follows, for the ages 
named : 



Age 25, on $3,000, $19.20 
" 30, " $3,000, $22.80 
" 35, " $3,000, $28.20 
" 40, " $3,000, $34.20 
" 45, " $3,000, $42.60 



on $1,000, $6.40 per an. 
" $1,000, 7.60 " " 
" $1,000, 9.40 " " 
" $1,000, 11.40 " " 
" $1,000, 14.20 " " 



These annual payments include the three 
elements required to meet the death claims 
fund, emergency fund, and expense fund. 
At the age of 35, a $3,000 certificate for 
1896 would cost $28.20, distributed as fol- 
lows : Death claims fund, $22.21 ; Emer- 
gency fund, $2.47 ; and Expense fund, 
$3.52. From the date of organization until 
June, 1894, all the executive officers of the 
Supreme Euling resided at Columbus, O., 
when the offices of the Supreme Mystic 
Ruler and Supreme Recorder were moved 
to Philadelphia. In April, 1895, the Su- 
preme Ruling was incorporated. The policy 
of the Executive Officers of this Order has 
favored the filing of annual reports with 
the Insurance departments of States, where 
the laws provide for it, and annual reports 



are filed annually with the insurance depart- 
ments of New York, New Jersey, Pennsyl- 
vania, Maryland, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, 
Iowa, and Nebraska. At no period in its 
history has the Order been more prosperous 
than at present, the year 1896 having 
brought a larger volume of new business 
than any preceding year. The present mem- 
bership is more than 12,000. 

Fraternal Tribunes. — Organized in 
June, 1897, by A. L. Craig and others, at 
Rock Island, 111., to pay death, .sick, dis- 
ability, old age, and annuity benefits. Both 
men and women may become members. 
The Society started with 750 members, em- 
ploys the graded plan of assessments, and 
claims the " unique feature "of " guarantee 
by a Loan and Indemnity Company " that its 
contracts with its members will be fulfilled. 

Fraternal Order of Protectors. — A 
mutual assessment beneficiary society which 
had its headquarters at Lincoln, Neb., a few 
years ago. 

Fraternal Union of America. — A mu- 
tual assessment, beneficiary society founded 
by F. F. Roose, F. A. Falkenburg, and 
others at Denver, Colo., September 1, 1896, 
to pay death, sick, disability, and old age 
benefits. Men and women are eligible to 
membership, and the total number of mem- 
bers is in excess of 5,000. Mr. Roose, the Su- 
preme President, has had much experience 
among fraternal orders, and is a member of 
the Ancient Order United Workmen, Mod- 
ern Woodmen of America, Knights of 
Pythias, Woodmen of the World, Phi Delta 
Theta, Heptasophs, Junior Order United 
American Mechanics, Red Men, and of the 
Masonic Fraternity. 

Fraternity of Friendly Fellows. — Or- 
ganized at New York, in 1885, to pay $1,000 
insurance to members by mutual assessments. 
It was still alive in 1890, but no trace of it 
is found in 1897. 

Olenwood Degree. — Uniform rank of 
the Independent Order of Foresters, formed 
in 1875. (See Independent Order Foresters 
and ditto of Illinois.) 



HOME CIRCLE 



135 



Golden Rule Alliance. — Organized at 
Boston prior to 1889, and recorded in the 
census of 1890 as a mutual assessment, bene- 
ficiary fraternity. Its membership was not 
large, nor did it secure a national reputa- 
tion. No trace has been secured of surviv- 
ing bodies of this Order. 

Golden Star Fraternity. — Organized in 
1881 at Newark, N. J., as a fraternal, bene- 
ficiary society for men and women. Its 
total membership is about 2,200, distributed 
through New Jersey, New York, and Con- 
necticut, but very few of its Lodges are 
found outside of the State where it was 
founded. It has neither a prohibition, re- 
ligious, or political bias, and states that it is 
in a sound financial condition with no out- 
standing liabilities. Its ritual seeks to im- 
press the teachings of benevolence and 
charity. 

Grand United Order, Independent 
Sons and Daughters of Purity.— This 
beneficiary and social society was organized 
at Harrisonburg, Ya., prior to the present 
decade. None of its Lodges are known to 
be in existence now. 

Granite League. — Formed at Philadel- 
phia nearly ten years ago to insure the lives 
of members by means of assessments. Re- 
ported dead. 

Home Circle, The. — When the Royal 
Arcanum, which is composed exclusively of 
men, had been organized nearly two years 
and a half, and had been introduced into 
twenty-three States of the Union, some of 
its active members, residents of Massachu- 
setts, conceived the idea of organizing a 
similar society into which the members of 
the Royal Arcanum could take their wives, 
daughters, sisters, and women friends, and 
give them the full beneficial and social priv- 
ileges which membership in such a society 
confers. The plan was to welcome woman 
to a full share of the work, honors, and 
responsibilities which, with few exceptions, 
had been refused her by , secret beneficiary 
organizations. With this object in view 
the Supreme Council of the Home Circle 



was organized in Boston, October 2, 1879, 
and began business November 5, 1879, being 
chartered under the laws of Massachusetts 
January 13, 1 880. Its founders were Henry 
Damon, Dr. John T. Codman, Dr. Thomas 
Waterman, Dr. Edward Page, N. H. Ful- 
ler, John A. Cummings, and Julius M. 
Swain, all residents of Boston or vicinity. 
They were all members of the Masonic Fra- 
ternity, Knights of Honor, and Royal Arca- 
num, three were Odd Fellows, and two were 
members of the Ancient Order of L T nited 
Workmen. 

The charter permitted the society, first, 
to unite in social union all acceptable mem- 
bers of the Royal Arcanum, their wives, 
mothers, sisters, daughters, and women 
friends, for the purpose of mutual aid, 
assistance, moral and intellectual improve- 
ment; and, second, to establish a benefit 
fund from which a sum not exceeding 
*3,500 should be paid to the deceased mem- 
ber's family, relatives, or dependents as 
directed. 

Four benefit degrees were adopted, and a 
candidate having passed a satisfactory in- 
vestigation, a medical examination, and the 
ballot, was admitted to one of the four de- 
grees as he might elect, carrying 8500, 
11,000, $2,000, or -s3,500 protection, and 
there was then issued a benefit certificate 
for the amount selected, payable to some 
legal beneficiary named in the application. 

In 18S1 the Legislature of Massachusetts 
by special act granted the Supreme Council 
of the Home Circle authority to increase its 
benefit to 85,000, and to receive as members 
all acceptable applicants without reference 
to their affiliation with the Royal Arcanum. 
Under the laws of Massachusetts the society 
cannot transact a commercial insurance busi- 
ness, and while its policies or benefit certifi- 
cates are good for their face value to the 
family, relative, or actual dependent named, 
no certificate is issued payable to any other 
person, and the benefits cannot be disposed 
of by will, assigned for any purpose, or at- 
tached for debt of the member or beneficiary 



136 



HOME FORUM BENEFIT ORDER 



either during the lifetime of the member or 
at his decease. Membership in the Home 
Circle, then, is an assurance to the member 
that the amount of benefit named will, in 
the event of his or her decease in good 
standing, be paid the beneficiary selected. 
The experience of the Order in receiving 
women and according to them office, honors, 
and permission to carry a protection or in- 
surance for dependent parents or children 
upon the same conditions of entrance, medi- 
cal examination, and cash payments as men, 
has been favorable. Women compose thirty 
per cent, of the membership, and -the Home 
Circle furnishes the first and " perhaps only 
example, ' ' where a beneficial society consti- 
tuted of men and women has elected a lady 
as its chief executive officer. 

Two million dollars have been paid in 
death benefits besides the special relief to 
members when ill or in need, amounting to 
about $100,000 in seventeen years. Death 
benefits paid have directly aided over 3,000 
persons, and in a large majority of cases the 
deceased member has left to dependents no 
other protection or life insurance. 

The experience of the Home Circle has 
been conspicuous among the beneficiary se- 
cret societies of the country, in that it has 
never had occasion to contest the pa}onent 
of a benefit in the courts, and that its legal 
expenses for a period of seventeen years are 
trifling. Subordinate Councils are com- 
posed of beneficiary members of either sex 
between eighteen and fifty years of age, who 
must pass a favorable examination and bal- 
lot. Applicants over fifty years of age may 
be admitted as social members without a 
medical examination. Grand Councils are 
organized in States and provinces having at 
least 1,000 members, and are composed of 
their officers, standing committees, and 
representatives from subordinate Councils. 
They have the general supervision of the 
Order in their respective jurisdictions. The 
Supreme Council, the head of the Order, 
makes laws and disburses the Benefit Fund. 
It is composed of its officers, standing com- 



mittees, and representatives from Grand 
Councils. Assessments paid by members in 
subordinate Councils are called to the Su- 
preme Treasury on the first of each month. 
The jurisdiction of the Order is limited to 
the United States and the Dominion of 
Canada, and its business is conducted in the 
English language only. It has a member- 
ship of about 8,000, located in the States 
of Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, 
Ehode Island, Connecticut, New York, New 
Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, 
North Carolina, Georgia, Ohio, Illinois, 
Michigan, Missouri, and Nebraska, the Dis- 
trict of Columbia, and the Provinces of On- 
tario, Quebec, and New Brunswick. Its 
ritual is based on the Golden Eule, and 
teaches morality and upright living. The 
emblem of the Society consists of a design 
formed of the letter H and a circle, while 
that of the Supreme Council, its governing 
body, suggests the domestic results of a 
well-spent and industrious life. 

Home Forum Benefit Order. — Char- 
tered under the laws of the State of Illinois, 
in 1892, as a mutual assessment, beneficiary 
society, by prominent members of the Mod- 
ern Woodmen of America and of the Masonic 
Fraternity. It is controlled by its members, 
the business of the association being man- 
aged by a board of directors. AYomen are 
admitted to full membership with men, the 
age limits for beneficiary membership being 
between sixteen and fifty-five years. Hon- 
orary or social membership is granted those 
over the age limit for insurance. The order 
issues death benefit certificates for $500, 
$1,000, and $2,000, and any member losing 
a foot, hand, or an eye by an accident is en- 
titled to receive one-fourth of the amount 
named in the certificate, the balance being 
payable at death. Membership is restricted 
to healthful districts, and denied to those 
following hazardous occupations. An un- 
usual regulation in like fraternities is that 
which suspends for three months any mem- 
ber who becomes intoxicated and expels for 
the second offence, although, as explained, 



IMPROVED ORDER OF HEPTASOPHS 



137 



such action is "without publicity." The 
plan of assessment is among the approved 
or graded systems in nse by nearly all of the 
best managed fraternal orders. The ritual, 
like that of some other similar organizations, 
finds its inspiration in Eoman history. It 
was about the Eoman Forum that Cicero, 
Caesar, Brutus, Anthony, and other dis- 
tinguished Eomans met to discuss the ques- 
tions of their time and form laws, and the 
Home Forum of to-day, adopting the old 
Eoman name, meets to decide questions of 
interest to its members and impart the les- 
sons of honesty, fraternity, benevolence, 
temperance, and patriotism, the initials of 
which are found in the angles of the golden 
star of the Order. The total membership, 
principally in Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, and 
Michigan, is about 12,000. 

Home Palladium. — A secret beneficiary 
fraternity, to which acceptable white men 
and women are eligible, organized at Kansas 
City, Mo., in August, 1891, by E. F. Edge- 
comb, Dr. L. G. Taylor, and Dr. T. J. 
Eggers, to give financial aid to its members 
in permanent, partial, or total disability 
and death, by means of twelve graded assess- 
ments annually. It claims to combine the 
best features of older similar societies, to 
have new and desirable ones of its own, and 
to avoid that which is objectionable in some 
like fraternities. Benefit certificates are 
issued in sums of $500, $1,000, $1,500, and 
$2,000 in three classes, extra rates being 
charged members engaged in hazardous and 
extra-hazardous occupations. Emphasis is 
placed on its method of creating and main- 
taining a reserve fund, which is copyrighted. 
One-tenth of the amount of the face of a 
member's benefit certificate is set apart for 
the reserve fund on which he or she pays in- 
terest at the rate of 2 per cent, per annum 
so long as the certificate remains in force. 
The Order is governed directly by the Su- 
preme Lodge, to which State Eepresentatives 
are elected by Grand Lodges existing for 
that purpose alone. It avoids the yellow 
fever and malarial districts of the South, 



and has thus far enjoyed an exceptionally 
low death rate. It numbers over 2,000 
members, and is growing rapidly. 

The Imperial Legion. — A Denver, Colo., 
beneficial fraternal association, Lodges of 
which have been established as far east as 
Missouri. Many prominent Colorado busi- 
ness and professional men are members of it. 

Improved Order of Heptasoplis. — The 
growth of beneficiary secret societies, those 
paying sick, funeral, and death benefits, 
within ten or fifteen years after the close of 
the Civil War, was, no doubt, responsible 
for the desire by members of the Order of 
Heptasophs, or Seven Wise Men, that that So- 
ciety be placed on a purely beneficiary basis. 
The movement centred in Zeta Conclave, 
Ko. 6, of the Heptasophs, or Seven Wise 
Men, at Baltimore, Md., and as the advo- 
cates of the change from a purely beneficiary 
secret organization on modern lines were 
not able to carry out their plan within the 
Society, they apparently determined to do 
so by means of an independent organization. 
A call was accordingly issued August 10, 
1878, signed by Judge George Y. Metzel, 
John W. Cruett, James S. Watkins, Hon. 
John G. Mitchel, W. F. C. Gerhardt, and 
Herbert J. Thurn, all of Maryland, asking 
the cooperation of fourteen other members, 
six from Maryland, six from Pennsylvania, 
and one from Virginia, and one from Ken- 
tucky, at a meeting in convention to organ- 
ize a secret, beneficiary organization. The 
convention was held at Odd Fellows' Hall on 
Broad Street, Philadelphia, August 27th, 
all of the signers of the call and those asked 
to join with them, twenty in number, being 
present. A permanent organization of a 
Supreme Conclave was effected under the 
title, The Improved Order of Heptasophs, 
with 83 members of Zeta Conclave, Order of 
the Heptasophs, or Seven Wise Men, as the 
nucleus of the new society. Judge George 
Y. Metzel is regarded as the founder of the 
Improved Order, and he was elected the 
first Archon, or chief executive. At the first 
annual session, in 1879, only nine Conclaves 



138 



INDEPENDENT CHEVALIERS AND LADIES OF INDUSTRY 



were reported, with a total membership of 
149. For the first six years of its existence, 
the Improved Order of Heptasophs was an- 
tagonized by the parent society, so that dur- 
ing the first two years its membership in- 
creased to only 516 in twelve Conclaves. 
But the Society (see Order of the Heptasophs, 
or Seven Wise Men) was in the hands of 
strong, conservative men who are said to 
have given freely of their time and means 
to build it up. It now numbers more than 
35,000 members in twenty States, and in 
the year 1895 enjoyed a phenomenal growth. 
The Order embraces the fundamental prin- 
ciples of leading kindred societies, except 
that it has abolished Grand (State) Con- 
claves, and leaves its business affairs, includ- 
ing the management of its death benefit 
fund, in the hands of its permanent and 
other Supreme officials. In Maryland, the 
cradle of the Order, there are nearly 12,000 
members, with an average mortality rate of 
only 7 in 1,000 per annum. The following 
is extracted from the Maryland Insurance 
Committee's report for 1895 : 

In closing my examination of the conditions of 
Fraternal Benefit Orders, it is proper for one to 
refer specially to the Improved Order of Heptasophs 
as to the promptness with which all claims have 
been met and paid, and in all cases it was found the 
organization had made reasonable effort to complete 
the necessary formalities and inquiries, in order to 
increase the efficiency for the settlement of all 
claims. 

The Order has issued certificates repre- 
senting $48,000,000, more than $12,000,000 
in 1895, a creditable exhibit. In eighteen 
years over $2,000,000 have been paid to 
beneficiaries. The beneficiary fund is pro- 
tected by the Maryland Code of Laws, sec- 
tion 143, L, of chapter 295, of the Legisla- 
tive Acts of 1894, which clears from any at- 
tachment proceedings all moneys to be paid 
from such funds held by any similar organi- 
zation. The Supreme body consists of 
its officers, deputies, and representatives 
elected by the membership of Subordinate 
Conclaves. The original, or charter, mem- 



bers were made permanent members of the 
Supreme Conclave as Past Supreme Arch- 
ons, having equal privileges with the Rep- 
resentatives on the floor of each Supreme 
Sitting. The membership of the Order is 
exclusively in the United States and is dis- 
tributed north of South Carolina, Kentucky, 
Arkansas, and Texas, extending west to and 
including Colorado. Death benefits range 
from $1,000 to $5,000, and are met by assess- 
ments. Subordinate Conclaves under the 
Supreme general laws are permitted to shape 
their own by-laws, so far as they refer to sick 
benefits ; but many Conclaves have decided 
not to pay sick benefits. Two Conclaves 
have been so prosperous as to be able to 
build temples of their own. Zeta Conclave 
of Baltimore has an edifice which cost 
$40,000, and Grant Conclave atEaston, Pa., 
has also dedicated a handsome temple to the 
principles of the Fraternity. This Order 
was among the first to place its insurance 
feature under the supervision of insurance 
departments in States where its meetings are 
held, in order that its efforts and the results 
of its work may remain " an open book," in 
which the record of the material good it ac- 
complishes may be seen by all men. 

Independent Chevaliers and Ladies 
of Industry. — Organized at Fall Eiver, 
Mass., 1889, as a fraternal mutual assessment 
association. Lived only about six years. 

Independent Order of Chosen 
Friends. — Early in 1887, when the Order 
of Chosen Friends was only three years old, 
leaders of the latter in California applied to 
the Supreme Council for a separate juris- 
diction on the Pacific Coast. . This was re- 
fused, notwithstanding the strength of the 
Order there, and the result was a secession 
and the formation of the Independent Order 
of Chosen Friends. Within a few years the 
Independent California Friends numbered 
7,000 or 8,000 members, but the Society 
ultimately dropped out of sight. (See Order 
of Chosen Friends.) 

Independent Order of Foresters. — 
This branch of Forestrv, like the Foresters 



INDEPENDENT ORDER OF FORESTERS 



139 



of America (which see), was the outgrowth 
of a movement to secure local self-govern- 
ment among New York and New Jersey 
Foresters, which began in 1871, and cul- 
minated, after several refusals of the Eng- 
lish High Court to establish a Subsidiary 
High Court for the United States, in June, 
1874, at Newark, N. J., when Court Inde- 
pendence seceded from the Ancient Order, 
and, with two Courts created by it, estab- 
lished a new, or Independent Order. A. B. 
Caldwell, the leader of the movement, was 
the first Most Worthy High Chief Banger. 
The remarkable success which has attended 
the growth of this offshoot from English 
Forestry is attested by its twenty-two years 
of existence and an increase of from perhaps 
500 to more than 100,000 members in twenty 
States of the Union,the Canadian Dominion, 
the United Kingdom, and Ireland. About 
43 per cent, of its membership is in the 
United States. Its form of government, 
with some minor differences, is like that of 
the Foresters of America and the Inde- 
pendent Order of Odd Fellows. It furnishes 
members with, free medical attendance and 
nurses, and pays sick, total disability, 
funeral, and mortuary benefits. A marked 
difference between this and other branches 
of Forestry is, that while the latter rely 
wholly upon assessments to pay benefits and 
endowments, the Independent Order, in 
1881, combined the assessment feature of 
the beneficiary or friendly society, with the 
plan of the regular premium-paying insur- 
ance company. In 1892 it was registered 
as a Friendly Society in ^the United King- 
dom, and under the requirements of the 
Friendly Societies Act, deposited with the 
British Government £20,000 to enable it to 
do an insurance business in the United 
Kingdom. In 1875, one year after its es- 
tablishment, a ladies' branch was formed, 
called the Miriam degree, which corresponds 
to the degree of Companions of the Forest 
in the Foresters of America. In 1875, also, 
a Uniformed Eank was instituted as the 
Glen wood degree, which corresponds to the 



Knights of the Sherwood Forest in other 
branches of Forestry. In 1877 juvenile 
branches were organized in which youths 
were interested, taught parliamentary law, 
and restrained from indulgence in liquor 
and tobacco. Since 1882, when the juvenile 
department was reorganized, it has become 
a useful and successful adjunct. In 1875, 
when only one year old, the Order had 
grown from three Courts and 500 members, 
with which it began, to forty-six Courts and 
4,000 members; and in 1878, when its mem- 
bership was nearly 14,000, the title of the 
governing body was changed to the Most 
"Worthy High Court of the World, the 
alteration being the substitution of the 
words "the World" for "the United 
States." In 1878 the Order met with seri- 
ous disaster in the unfaithfulness of an 
official, who disappeared simultaneously 
with about $17,000 of its funds. Subse- 
quently about one-third of the amount was 
restored, but so great was the loss that the 
efforts of the Society to make good its obli- 
gations by extra assessments resulted in 
serious differences which, for a time, threat- 
ened complete disruption. The firm stand 
taken by Judge William B. Hoke, then the 
executive head of the Order, his judicial 
temperament, strong character, and wide 
personal influence alone prevented disinte- 
gration. A large number of Massachusetts 
Courts held out for State as opposed to 
national assessments and payments, but 
ultimately decided to remain and be governed 
by the will of the majority. Not so, how- 
ever, with some of the Illinois Courts, which 
refused to abide by the decisions of the Su- 
preme Court, and had their charters revoked, 
whereupon they met and organized the In- 
dependent Order of Foresters of Illinois. 
The break in the ranks of the Illinois 
Independent Order of Foresters was not the 
only like consequence of the financial loss 
to the Order in 1879. Prior to the Illinois 
movement, the Independent Order num- 
bered about 15,000, and the total loss from 
secession within a year was no less than 



140 



INDEPENDENT ORDER OF FORESTERS OF ILLINOIS 



4,000. There were, as pointed out, about 
2,500 seceders in Illinois, to which mast be 
added 1,500 in the Canadian Dominion, in 
October, 1879, by whom the Canadian 
Order of Foresters was organized. 

It was in 1878, also, that Foresters in 
London, Ontario, planned and founded the 
original Order of Knights of the Macca- 
bees. In 1881, the Independent Order, the 
larger part of the membership of which was 
in the United States, suffered its severest 
blow through the action of its Supreme 
Court at Albany, N. Y., in resolving to 
change the name of the society to the 
United Order of Foresters. The Canadian 
Courts were unwilling to abide by this, and 
found fault with American Courts for hav- 
ing made changes in the ritual, for eliminat- 
ing the chaplain from the list of officers, 
discarding prayers from the ceremonies, 
and for holding meetings on Sundays. The 
result was the continuation of the Canadian 
Courts as the Independent Order of Forest- 
ers (the claim being that the Courts which 
changed the name of the Order were the 
seceders), and at the High Court meeting at 
Ottawa, in July, 1881, with a total mem- 
bership reduced to less than 400 (excepting 
one Court in Elizabeth, 1ST. J.) again began 
the work of building up the Order. The 
American, or seceding branch, that which 
changed its name to the United Order, 
though it started with about 13,000 mem- 
bers, did not possess the elements of suc- 
cess. It languished, and within a few years 
became extinct. Meanwhile the Indepen- 
dent Order, almost all of it at that time in the 
Canadian Dominion, went resolutely to work, 
and, notwithstanding active opposition from 
the Canadian Order, secured, within two 
years, a list of 1,700 members, an increase 
of 300 per cent. Two years later, in 1885, 
it numbered nearly 3,000 members, and in 
1889, when it was incorporated at Toronto, 
more than 14,000 members. Between 1890 
and 1896 its growth was phenomenal, or 
from 16,000 to nearly 87,000 members. 
Courts were established in Oregon, Wash- 



ington, Colorado, Montana, Arizona, Wis- 
consin, Pennsylvania, Kansas, in 1891, and 
in the United Kingdom in 1892. The 
spirit shown by this Society, its methods of 
self -development and of conducting its 
business have been most effective. Under 
its Supreme Court are registered thirty-two 
High Courts in various States, Territories, 
provinces, and countries, to which 2,600 
subordinate Courts hold allegiance. And 
after, nominally, twenty-three years of ex- 
istence (practically only fifteen years), with 
more than 100,000 members, it has a sur- 
plus of $1,848,000, after having paid over 
$3,800,000 in benefits. Second to the efforts 
of no other man in organizing and extend- 
ing the Independent Order of Foresters are 
those of its Supreme Chief Hanger, Dr. 
Oronhyatekha of Toronto, Ont. 

Independent Order of Foresters of 
Illinois. — It is stated by various chroniclers 
that the Independent Order of Foresters of 
Illinois, which was formed by a member of 
the Massachusetts Catholic Order of Forest- 
ers, and by seceding members of the Inde- 
pendent Order of Foresters of Illinois, at 
Chicago, in 1879, started with about 2,500 
members, its Courts all being in the State 
of Illinois, most of them in and about the 
city of Chicago. The Miriam degree was 
carried along in what may be called the 
Illinois secession, but its membership was 
not large and is not to-day. A novel fea- 
ture is found in its modification of the Glen- 
wood degree or military rank, which was 
also retained, in that ladies are admitted. 
This Society pays endowment benefits by 
assessments and sick and funeral benefits 
from Court dues. To judge from statistics 
of membership, interest in the Illinois Order 
of Foresters has been on the decline. In 
1880 it had more than 2,500 members, and 
late in 1893, 21,160 members, an increase 
of nearly ninefold in thirteen years. Since 
that time the membership has declined, 
amounting to only 20,107 in January, 1894, 
18,376 in January, 1895, and to only 17,330 
one year later, a decline of about one-seventh 



KNIGHTS AND LADIES OF AZAR 



141 



within three years. In 1883 it suffered 
from the secession of some of its members of 
the Eoman Catholic faith, who organized 
the Catholic Order of Foresters. As in the 
case of other secessions from like societies, 
the Illinois Order altered enough of its rit- 
ual and means of recognition to give it in- 
dividuality, but in other respects it followed 
in the footsteps of similar secessions. (See 
Independent Order of Foresters.) 

Independent Order of Immaciilates 
of the United States of America. — Or- 
ganized at Nashville, Tenn., by W. A. Had- 
ley, June 23, 1872, to pay sick, accident, 
and disability benefits to members. It took 
its rise from the Young Men's Immaculate 
Association, an organization of colored men, 
but differed in that it patterned after vari- 
ous secret, beneficiary Orders, and admitted 
men and women as members. Its head- 
quarters are at Nashville, and it has about 
5,000 members. 

Independent Order of Mechanics. — 
Organized at Baltimore April 19, 1868, a 
benevolent, beneficiary fraternity paying 
sick and accident benefits of from 81 to $5 
weekly, and death benefits of from 8200 to 
6400. All white men between eighteen and 
fifty years of age are eligible to membership. 
The Order has never had any connection 
with practical mechanics or labor organiza- 
tions. When founded, the only prominent 
and widespread benevolent fraternities in 
the country were the Freemasons, the Odd 
Fellows, and the Red Men. There were 
also the well-known patriotic Orders, the 
United American Mechanics, Senior and 
Junior. But it is more than doubtful 
whether either of the latter suggested the 
name, the Independent Order of Mechanics. 
The fact that the "three cardinal princi- 
ples" of the latter are Friendship, Truth, 
and Love, as contrasted with the Friendship, 
Love, and Truth of the Independent Order 
of Odd Fellows, suggests that some of the 
founders of the "Independent Order of" 
Mechanics were Odd Fellows, which is 
borne out by the use by both of a representa- 



tion of Jacob's ladder and the ark among 
their emblems. The Order has about 10,000 
members, and has paid nearly $500,000 for 
the relief of members and to their bene- 
ficiaries. 

Illinois Order of Mutual Aid. — Organ- 
ized for the purpose expressed in its title at 
Springfield, 111., June 17, 1878, when its 
first Grand Lodge meeting was held. It 
took its rise from the Ancient Order of 
United Workmen, and pays $2,000, $1,000, 
and 8500 death benefits "and accrued as- 
sessments." In the latter feature it differs 
from the organization last named. Men 
alone are eligible to join the Order, the 
membership of which is 6,000. 

Independent Workmen of America. 
— A Nebraska fraternal and beneficial asso- 
ciation of recent origin. Its headquarters 
are at Omaha. 

Iowa Legion of Honor. — A social and 
beneficiary assessment Order, designed for 
men and women, residents of the State of 
Iowa only. Removal from the State does 
not forfeit membership. The beneficiary 
divisions for men and for women are sepa- 
rate. The secret work and ceremonies are 
described as " simple but lasting." Subor- 
dinate Lodges elect representatives to the 
Grand Lodge, who with the officers thereof 
constitute that body. The Grand Lodge 
meets biennially, and the government is 
more representative than in like societies 
which subordinate Grand or State Lodges 
to a Supreme body. Members' lives are in- 
sured for $1,000 or $2,000. The total mem- 
bership is about 7,500. A prominent official 
states that the founders were not members 
of any other particular organization of like 
nature. (See American Legion of Honor.) 

Knights and Ladies of Azar. — A re- 
organization of the Knights of Azar, a fra 
ternal, beneficiary, and patriotic Order 
founded at Chicago in 1893. Under the 
reorganization ladies are to be admitted on 
equal terms with men. In June, 1897, 
there were 300 members enrolled, and as 
soon as 500 were obtained the Society was 



142 



KNIGHTS AND LADIES OF HONOR 



to be incorporated under the laws of Illinois 
affecting organizations paying death, acci- 
dent, disability, and old age benefits by 
means of mutual assessments. 

Knights and Ladies of Honor. — This 
was the first secret beneficiary society to 
admit women to equal social and beneficiary 
privileges with men, and is otherwise note- 
worthy in that it is the outgrowth of a side 
or auxiliary degree known as the degree 
of Protection, which was attached to the 
Knights of Honor from 1875 until 1877. 
Knights of Honor, their wives, mothers, 
widows, and unmarried daughters and sis- 
ters over eighteen years of age were eligible 
to the degree of Protection, which per- 
formed the same social and beneficiary func- 
tions for the Knights of Honor that the 
Daughters of Eebekah does for the Inde- 
pendent Order of Odd Fellows. Only a few 
Lodges of the degree of Protection were or- 
ganized during 1875 and 1876, but little en- 
couragement being given by the Supreme 
Lodge of Knights of Honor, which body in 
May, 1877, repealed the law creating the 
degree. On September 6, 1877, representa- 
tives from Lodges of the degree of Protection 
met at Louisville, Ky., to discuss the con- 
dition of affairs, and, if possible, effect a per- 
manent organization. The outcome was 
the formation of a Provisional Supreme 
Lodge for the degree, of which the follow- 
ing, all of Kentucky, were the first officers: 
E. J. Williamson, T. W. Seymour, E. J. 
McBride, E. D. Macbeth, C. L. Piper, J. A. 
Demaree, W. E. Ladd, K. H. Seng, 0. N. 
Bradburn, T. E. Dennis, G. W. Check, and 
T. J. Wyatt. The first annual meeting of 
the " Supreme Lodge of Protection, Knights 
and Ladies of Honor/' was held at Louis- 
ville, Ky., September 19, 1878, and in April 
of the following year the Supreme Lodge of 
Protection, Knights and Ladies of Honor, 
was incorporated. On December 14, 1881, 
the General Assembly of Kentucky amended 
the act of incorporation by striking out the 
words " of Protection," and so changing the 
membership limitation clause as to render 



eligible to membership " all acceptable white 
persons, male and female." The original 
act of 1878 fixed the amount of benefit pay- 
able on the death of a member at a sum not 
exceeding $1,000, but the amendatory act 
of 1881 increased the limit of benefit pay- 
able at death of a member to $5,000, which 
changes constitute the foundation of the 
growth and prosperity of the Order of 
Knights and Ladies of Honor of to-day, the 
date of the independent existence of which 
is September 6, 1877. The. amount paid on 
each single assessment by each member de- 
pends upon the age at joining the Order and 
amount of benefit carried. On June 30, 
1878, its membership was as follows: Men, 
907; women, 1,018; total, 1,925. On 
December 31, 1895, men, 39,922; women, 
43,083; total, 83,005. The objects of the 
Fraternity are (1) to unite fraternally all ac- 
ceptable white men and women of any repu- 
table profession, business, or occupation who 
are over eighteen and under fifty years of 
age. (2) To give all possible moral and ma- 
terial aid in its power to its members, and 
those depending upon them, by holding 
moral, literary, and scientific lectures, by 
encouraging each other in business, and by 
assisting each other to obtain employment. 
(3) To promote benevolence and charity by 
establishing a relief fund. This fund is 
maintained by monthly assessments on those 
members who desire to participate in it, 
who are distinguished in the laws of the 
Order as Eelief Fund members. The Eelief 
Fund Department comprises three open 
divisions: Division 1, of $500; Division 2, 
of $1,000; Division 3, of $2,000; Division 4, 
of $3,000, but the last-named division is 
now closed to entrants. Upon satisfactory 
proof of the death of a Relief Fund mem- 
ber, in good standing at time of death, such 
sum of money is paid to the designated 
beneficiary as the deceased had in life con- 
tributed for, and which was specified in the 
Relief Fund certificate held by the member 
at the date of death. Benefits are payable 
to " such member or members of his or her 



KNIGHTS AND LADIES OF SECURITY 



143 



family, person or persons dependent on or 
related to him or her, as he or she may have 
directed. ' ' The Order has paid out in death 
benefits during nineteen years $11,642,000. 
Any acceptable white person, not less than 
eighteen nor more than sixty-five years of 
age, may be admitted as a social member 
without medical examination. These mem- 
bers pay the usual Lodge dues, but are ex- 
empt from contributing to the Eelief Fund. 
The business of this Order is conducted 
through a Supreme Lodge, Grand Lodges, 
coextensive with their several State bounda- 
ries, and subordinate Lodges. It has six- 
teen Grand Lodges, but its membership is 
distributed in nearly every State of the 
Union. Representatives chosen by subordi- 
nate Lodges constitute the several Grand 
Lodges, and representatives chosen by the 
several Grand Lodges constitute, with its offi- 
cers and committeemen, the Supreme Lodge. 
The Supreme Lodge conducts, exclusively, 
the collection and disbursement of the Re- 
lief Fund, and has full power to make laws 
for its own government, and to govern 
Grand and subordinate Lodges. 

Less effort has been made by the Knights 
and Ladies of Honor to make that organi- 
zation distinct from the Knights of Honor 
than has sometimes been the case by off- 
shoots from secret societies, the comparison 
being found rather with schisms among Odd 
Fellows and Foresters, so many independent 
Orders of which exist with similar names, 
titles, emblems, and rituals. The seal of 
the Supreme Lodge of the Knights and 
Ladies of Honor contains the representation 
of a knight in armor, with sword and shield, 
ready to defend and protect the widow and 
children which, with a broken column, are 
also represented. Upon the shield held by 
the knight, who symbolizes the Order, are 
the letters 0. M. A. in the angles of a tri- 
angle. The seal of the Supreme Lodge of 
the mother Order, the Knights of Honor, 
is similar, except that the knight stands with 
his shield arm raised. The triangle and the 
broken column are missing, but the letters 



0. M. A., which probably refer to the motto 
of the Order, appear on an ornamental 
shield over the design. The best known 
emblem of the Knights of Honor is a mono- 
gram formed of the letters 0. M. A., and 
of the Knights and Ladies of Honor, a pen- 
dant triangular design, in the angles of 
which the same letters appear. It is of in- 
terest to point out that the experience of 
the Knights and Ladies of Honor shows 
that its risks on women members have con- 
stantly proven the better of the two classes. 
L. D. Witherill, M.D., Supreme Medical 
Examiner of the Order for the twelve }^ears, 
reports out of the first 8,000 deaths (De- 
cember 26, 1877, to June 10, 1895, inclu- 
sive) 4,198 were of men and 3,802 women. 
The same authority says, concerning the 
character and desirability of women as in- 
surance risks: " Statistics show that the life 
of females, as a rule, is longer than that of 
males. Their exposure to violent deaths 
and abuse of intoxicants is far less. From 
a medical standpoint I would urge the mem- 
bers of the Order to increase their ranks as 
far as possible from the women of our land. " 
(See Loyal Knights and Ladies.) 

Knights and Ladies of Security. — One 
of the more modern and progressive of the 
latter-day mutual assessment, death and 
disability beneficiary secret societies, to 
which both men and women are eligible. 
It was chartered under the laws of the State 
of Kansas February 22, 1892, with its head- 
quarters at Topeka, by members of the 
Masonic Fraternity, the Ancient Order of 
United Workmen, one or both Orders of 
Woodmen, and others. It eliminates the 
expensive and generally unnecessary State 
organization usually found in similar soci- 
eties, its National Council being composed 
of representatives from subordinate Coun- 
cils elected by a direct vote of the members. 
It operates throughout the United States 
and Canada, north of North Carolina, Ten- 
nessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, 
and Arizona, excluding cities of 150,000 
population and over. Admission, as in 



144 



KNIGHTS AND LADIES OF THE FIRESIDE 



most such societies, is restricted to white 
persons of good moral character between 
eighteen and fifty-five years of age who can 
pass a satisfactory physical examination. 
•Certificates or policies are issued to men and 
women members alike for sums ranging 
from 8500 to $3,000. These are paid by 
means of graded assessments, in full at 
death, or in part in case of disability by 
accident. Holders who reach the age of 
seventy receive one- tenth of the amount of 
the policies each year until the face is paid. 
A feature of the organization is its reserve 
fund, which is created by setting aside 850 
on each $1,000 named in certificates, and 
loaning it on real estate mortgage security. 
It is used to meet death losses after twelve 
monthly assessments have been made within 
a year. In explaining its reserve fund the 
announcement is made that the plan of cre- 
ating it has been copyrighted, and " its per- 
petual use secured to the Order." The 
growth of the Order has been unusually 
rapid, its total membership amounting to 
about 25,000 in one-third the States of the 
Union, a tribute to the efficiency of the 
salaried organizers of new Councils and to 
the enthusiasm and loyalty of the rank and 
file of its membership, in which it may be 
said to have fairly rivalled the vitality shown 
by almost any similar society. Councils of 
Knights and Ladies of Security are practi- 
cally private social clubs rather than mystic 
temples, but the ritual and ceremonial are 
instructive and attractive, being well calcu- 
lated to impress upon the mind of the no- 
vitiate the importance of wisdom, security, 
protection, and fraternity. 

Knights and Ladies of the Fireside. 
— A mutual assessment beneficiary organiza- 
tion, founded at Kansas City, Mo., in 1892, 
by representatives of kindred organizations 
in Missouri and Kansas. It issues life, acci- 
dent, and sick benefit certificates in separate 
classes. It admits men and women alike, 
and has about 5,000 members pointing to an 
exceptionally rapid growth. At the death 
of a member or lapse of a membership, 10 



per cent, of the amount paid into the bene- 
ficiary fund by the deceased or former mem- 
ber is invested by the Supreme Lodge to 
form a permanent fund with which to pro- 
vide for the payment of assessments of mem- 
bers of fifteen, (or twenty) years' standing. 
The services of S. H. Snider, ex-Superin- 
tendent of Insurance of the State of Kansas, 
as Supreme Secretary of the Knights and 
Ladies of the Fireside, are an evidence of 
the intelligence and enthusiasm with which 
the society has entered the already well-filled 
field of fraternal insurance orders. 

Knights and Ladies of the Golden 
Precept. — Founded by Thomas Gauderup, 
E. E. Everhart, W. B. Davison, and John 
Iverson at Clinton, la., in 1896, and incor- 
porated under the laws of the State of Iowa 
with social and beneficiary objects. It con- 
templates establishing Lodges throughout 
the Union. 

Knights and Ladies of the Golden 
Rule. — One of the older but smaller secret 
beneficiary societies, combining many of the 
features of other like organizations with 
some of its own. It was organized at Cin- 
cinnati, 0., in August, 1879, and incor- 
porated under the laws of Kentucky in the 
same month. The founders were members 
of other beneficiary fraternal societies, no- 
tably the Order of Mutual Aid, which suc- 
cumbed to the yellow fever epidemic at 
Memphis, early in its career, in 1878 ; the 
Ancient Order of United Workmen, and 
the Knights of Honor. A few representa- 
tives and officers met in final session at Cin- 
cinnati, and after settling claims against the 
Order of Mutual Aid adjourned sine die. 
A majority of those present then met and 
organized the Knights of the Golden Eule, 
which has preserved with varying success 
a continuous existence ever since. The 
headquarters of the Order are at Louisville, 
Ky., and the form of government is much 
like that of similar societies, including a 
Supreme Commandery, Grand Chapters 
having jurisdiction in the States, and Sub- 
ordinate Castles. Funds paid to beneficiaries 



KNIGHTS OF BIRMINGHAM 



145 



of members of the Order are not sub- 
ject to legal process for the collection' of 
debts. The emblem of the Fraternity is a 
shield, on which are the letters K. Gr. K., 
over a circle on which is inscribed the 
Golden Rule, in the centre of which are a 
pair of clasped hands. Below are five links 
of a chain, containing F. and P., which 
may or may not stand for Friendship and 
Protection. The employment of detached 
links, symbolical of a chain of brotherhood, 
is one of the few instances in which an 
adaptation of the triple link of Odd Fel- 
lowship is found among the more modern 
secret societies. 

The Order is divided into three sections, 
and provides for the payment of a speci- 
fied sum on the death of a member as fol- 
lows : first section, $500 ; second section, 
$1,000, and third section, $2,000. Any 
white man or woman eighteen years of age, 
and not over fifty, may be enrolled a bene- 
ficiary member. There is a scale of assess- 
ments graded according to age. The 
graded assessment plan was adopted in 
1892 in place of the level assessment plan 
used at time of organization. A Grand 
Chapter has supervision of the work in a 
State and elects one or more representatives 
to the Supreme Comnianderv, which has 
entire control of the beneficiary depart- 
ment, and a general supervision of the 
Order at large. The organization has Cas- 
tles in Alabama, Arkansas, California, 
Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, New 
Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, South Caro- 
lina, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, 
Minnesota, Mississippi, Tennessee, Texas, 
Virginia, and West Virginia, and the total 
membership is over 3,000. 

Knights and Ladies of the Golden 
Star. — An assessment, charitable, and bene- 
ficiary society, founded at Newark, N. J., 
January 11, 1884, having its permanent 
headquarters at Newark. For a few years 
the organization was local in character, but 
afterward established Lodges in New York 
State and elsewhere in New Jersey. Men and 
10 



women between sixteen and sixty-five years 
of age and children are eligible to member- 
ship. Its beneficiary certificates of $500, 
$1,000, $1,500, or $2,000, payable at death, 
may be converted into paid-up insurance 
after ten years. It appeals to young men and 
women to take out certificates of insurance 
in small amounts, which, "in the event of a 
long life, will bring in a rich accumulation of 
the original face value/' Annuities are paid 
those who are fifty years of age and. have 
been members twenty-one years, and one-half 
the face value of certificates is paid at total 
disability. The Society is unique in that 
it receives into membership entire families, 
" children being received into the immedi- 
ate relief department in sums ranging from 
$50 up to $400. Its present membership is 
about 10,000. The original members were 
members of the Royal Templars of Temper- 
ance, but the Order may hardly be classed 
as a temperance organization, though it ex- 
cludes saloon keepers and bartenders from 
membership. Its "golden star" refers to 
the Star of Bethlehem, and it has no secrets 
beyond the password to exclude those not 
members from its meetings. It has paid 
nearly $700,000 in benefits since it was 
founded. 

Knights and Ladies of the Round 
Table.— Organized in 1887, and registered 
in census reports of 1890 as a mutual assess- 
ment insurance order for men and women, 
with headquarters at Bloomington, 111. Let- 
ters addressed there are returned unopened; 
but there is still an organization by the same 
name in Central Western States, notably at 
Toledo, O. 

Knights and Ladies of Washington. 
— A social and beneficiary organization 
founded at Easton, Pa. Not known there 
now. 

Knights of Aurora. — Organized at Min- 
neapolis prior to 1889 as a mutual insurance 
society. Not known there now. 

Knights of Birmingham. — Founded at 
Philadelphia in 1873 by Peter Jones, Edwin 
Smith, and John Welde, three Freemasons, 



146 



KNIGHTS OF COLUMBIA 



as a mutual assessment beneficiary society, 
to which only Master Masons between 
twenty-one and fifty years of age are eligi- 
ble. It issues certificates of $1,000 each, 
payable at death, and has expended in this 
manner more than $1,000,000. Its total 
membership is about 5,000, most of whom 
reside at or near Philadelphia. A Grand 
Lodge was organized in 1877, which consists 
of all Past Sir Chiefs and the five elective 
officers of subordinate Lodges. 

Knights of Columbia. — A Topeka, 
Kan., fraternal, mutual benefit organiza- 
tion. Its Lodges are scattered through 
West Mississippi and Missouri Valley States. 
The membership is not large. 

Kniglits of Honor. — The line of descent 
of the Knights of Honor in the family of 
beneficiary secret societies is direct from the 
parent death benefit assessment society, the 
Ancient Order of UnitedWorkmen, seventeen 
members of which, including members of the 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, led by 
James A. Demaree, founded the Knights 
of Honor at Louisville, Ky., in 1873. It 
has been very successful in that it ranked in 
numerical strength among the first half- 
dozen similar Orders, with a total member- 
ship of 126,000 in 1895, which fell off to 
96,000 in 1897, during reorganization, when 
its assessment plan was remodelled and 
brought down to date. Its purposes are to 
unite, fraternally, acceptable white men of 
good moral character and sound bodily 
health; to lead them to assist each other in 
distress, in business, and the search for em- 
ployment, which are characteristic of many 
similar societies, and to establish a widows' 
and orphans' benefit fund of not less than 
$500 nor more than $2,000, to be paid to 
families of deceased members. The so- 
called secrecy which attaches to the Frater- 
nity is declared to be only such as is necessary 
to keep out intruders and unworthy men 
from its benefits ; upright men of all politi- 
cal parties and religious creeds being wel- 
come to its ranks. No oath is administered 
to candidates for initiation, "only a prom- 



ise" to obey the laws of the Order and 
" protect a worthy brother in his adversities 
and afflictions." The would-be member is 
required to profess a belief in God, and 
must be able to earn a livelihood for himself 
and family. A member may carry $500, 
$1,000, or $2,000 insurance, and assessments 
to meet payments of death benefits are as- 
sessed at the lowest limit, graded according 
to age.* More than $52,000,000 has been 
paid in death benefits within the twenty- 
three years since the Society was organized. 
Beneficiaries must be the nearest dependent 
relatives. Certificates of membership cannot 
be used as collateral, nor are moneys paid in 
their redemption subject to seizure to satisfy 
debts of the insured. Lodges pay sick benefits 
to members at their option, and handle their 
own funds to that end. Death benefit funds 
are paid to and disbursed by the Supreme 
Lodge. The government of the Order, like 
that of the Independent Order of Odd 

* The Knights of Honor took one step in advance 
of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, in that, 
while the latter assessed all members a uniform 
sum to pay a death benefit (and still does), the for- 
mer found an excuse for existence in its original 
plan of assessment by which members between 45 
and 55 years of age paid more than those between 
21 and 45. From that period, 1873-75, the work 
of evolution among fraternal assessment societies 
went rapidly on, the next step being the grading of 
assessments, and later an increasing assessment ac- 
cording to age. It was not long before the Knights 
of Honor admitted to membership persons between 
18 and 21 years of age and adopted graded assess- 
ments for all joining thereafter, up to the age of 
45. By 1894-95 it became plain that the system of 
paying a fixed assessment year after year, deter- 
mined by the age of the member at date of joining 
the society, would sooner or later be found wanting; 
and in 1895 the Knights of Honor, after prolonged 
investigation, adopted a plan of insurance based 
on a different rate of assessment for each age, be- 
ginning with 18 and ending with 61, increasing 
from year to year. The effect, it is declared, will 
be that each member in any one year will pay only 
the sum needed for benefits on deaths among 
members of his own age, based on mortality 
tables and the experience of assessment beneficiary 
secret societies. This radical change has resulted 
advantageously. 



KNIGHTS OF SOBRIETY, FIDELITY, AND INTEGRITY 



147 



Fellows, the Foresters, and nearly all similar 
organizations, is centred in a Supreme Lodge 
made up of representatives of Grand (State) 
Lodges. The latter are composed of repre- 
sentatives of subordinate Lodges, and have 
jurisdiction over the affairs of the Order in 
their respective States. Nearly all the larger 
assessment beneficiary organizations .are re- 
sponsible directly or indirectly for the cre- 
ation of similar societies, either through 
schism born of rivalry among would-be lead- 
ers or by having served as models, or other- 
wise, and the Knights of Honor prove no 
exception. In 1875 the Supreme Lodge 
established a side or auxiliary degree enti- 
tled the degree of Protection, to which 
Knights of Honor, their wives, mothers, 
unmarried daughters and sisters, eighteen 
or more years of age, were eligible. Only a 
few Lodges of this degree were instituted 
during the next year or two (see Knights 
and Ladies of Honor), and in 1877 the Su- 
preme Lodge repealed the law creating the 
degree, whereupon representatives of the 
degree met at Louisville and organized an 
independent secret assessment beneficiary 
society for men and women under the title, 
The Order of Protection of Knights and 
Ladies of Honor, which was subsequently 
changed to the Knights and Ladies of Honor. 
The Knights of Honor, while among the 
better and favorably known of like soci- 
eties, has not attained its present eminence 
without intelligent and persistent work on 
the part of hundreds of prominent business 
and professional men who have been and 
still are members. Of Western origin, it 
early spread to the East and the South. 
From 17 members who founded the Order, 
the membership increased to 99 by the close 
of 1873, but one year later it had grown ten- 
fold, with 999 names on the roll. From 
1875 the Society's increase was rapid until 
1878, when the yellow fever epidemic was 
the cause of its first serious reverse. In 
that year alone the Order suffered a drain 
on its financial resources of $385,000, the 
result of the death of 193 members. Dur- 



ing nearly all of the past eighteen years in- 
crease in membership and in popularity has 
characterized the Fraternity. Its Supreme 
Lodge is made up of representatives of 36 
Grand Lodges, to which are attached 2,600 
subordinate Lodges with an average of 50 
members each. 

Knights of Honor of the World.— A 
new 7 fraternal insurance society, with head- 
quarters at Natchez, Miss. It appears to 
have used the name of another organization. 

Knights of the Seven Wise Men of 
the World. — The United States census of 
1890 names this Society among others 
founded to do an insurance business, but 
nothing is known of it at Nashville, where 
its chief office was located. Its. title sug- 
gests that it was an offshoot from or related 
in some way to the Improved Order of, or 
to the Order of the Heptasophs. 

Knights of Sobriety, Fidelity, and 
Integrity. — A mutual assessment benefici- 
ary society for men, organized at Syracuse, 
N. Y., in 1890. It does business in nearly 
a dozen States, but a large proportion of its 
5,000 members are residents of the Empire 
State. It issues death certificates for $500, 
$1,000, and $2,000, and pays accident and 
sick benefits of $5, $10, $15, $20, and $25 
weekly. The latter are limited to five con- 
secutive weeks, and to twenty w r eeks alto- 
gether in any one year. Three rates of 
assessments are offered members, the lowest 
of which delays the period at which the 
benefit goes into effect, but makes the in- 
surance easier to carry. The second rate is 
based on a shorter delay in putting into 
operation the death benefit contract, while 
the third makes the insurance operative 
from the moment of joining. The loss of 
one hand and arm above the w^rist, or one 
foot and leg above the ankle, entitles a 
member to one-sixth the amount due under 
his certificate in case of death. In case of 
the loss of both hands and arms above the 
wrist, or both feet and legs above the ankles, 
he is entitled to one-third the face of the 
certificate. Members who arrive at the age 



148 



KNIGHTS OF THE BLUE CROSS OF THE WORLD 



of seventy years are entitled to 10 per cent. 
of the amount named in the certificate each 
year until one-half the amount named in 
the certificate is paid. All surplus of pre- 
miums after the payment of claims, is set 
aside as a reserve fund, " to provide against 
excessive mortality in any one year. ' ' Loans 
on real estate security are made to members 
on the monthly payment plan in States 
where the Order is incorporated. 

Knights of the Blue Cross of the 
World. — Organized at Homer, Mich., in 
1888, to pay $1,000 and $2,000 death bene- 
fits by means of mutual assessments of mem- 
bers. It also paid weekly benefits in cases 
of sickness of members. The organization 
is not known now to the postal officials. 

Knights of the Brotherhood. — A mu- 
tual assessment beneficiary Order founded 
prior to 1889, which reported to the United 
States tenth census from Phcenixville, Pa., 
but is now unknown there. 

Knights of the Glob e.— A social, mili- 
tary, charitable, aud patriotic secret organi- 
zation which secures the death benefit fea- 
ture to its members through the Knights 
of the Globe Mutual Benefit Association, a 
non-secret, cooperative insurance company, 
organized under the laws of the State of 
Illinois, to which only Knights of the Globe 
are eligible. Men and women may become 
members of both organizations, the latter 
first joining the Daughters of the Globe, a 
branch of the Knights of the Globe. The 
mutual aid society through the Knights is 
recruited from the more healthful portions 
of the United States, and announces special 
inducements to young men because of its 
uniform rate of assessments. It issues death 
benefit certificates for ten different amounts, 
ranging from $500 to $5,000, to those be- 
tween eighteen and fifty-six years of age 
who are otherwise eligible. The Knights 
of the Globe was organized at Chicago in 
1889 by Freemasons prominent in the Scot- 
tish Eite, by Odd Fellows of the highest 
rank, and by members of the Ancient Or- 
der of United Workmen, Royal Arcanum, 



American Legion of Honor, Woodmen of 
the World, the Grand Army of the Repub- 
lic, and other secret societies. The influ- 
ence of the Workmen is seen in the uniform 
assessment rate, that of the Freemasons and 
Odd Fellows in the degree work and em- 
blems, and the Grand Army in its obliga- 
tion that " no other flag than the glorious 
Stars and Stripes shall ever float over our 
country." Four degrees or ranks are con- 
ferred, that of Volunteer, Militant, Knight, 
and Valiant Knight. Of the latter L. L. 
Munn, 33°, of Freeport, 111., writes that 
while he is familiar with many Orders and 
has witnessed ceremonies of the highest 
grade of excellence, the beauty, instruction, 
and impressiveness of the Valiant Knight's 
rank take a very high rank among them. 
One of the chief objects of the Fraternity is 
to inculcate lofty ideas of American citizen- 
ship. While the Order is well distributed 
throughout the West, it is strong in Illinois, 
where a large proportion of its 7,000 mem- 
bers reside. 

Knights of the Globe Mutual Benefit 
Association. — A non-secret, cooperative 
insurance company, organized under the 
laws of the State of Illinois in 1890 to in- 
sure members of the Knights of the Globe 
and Daughters of the Globe. (See the latter.) 

Knights of the Golden Eagle. — Among 
the various beneficiary, semi-military secret 
societies which have founded their rituals and 
ceremonials upon the history and pageantry 
of the Crusaders, the Knights of the Golden 
Eagle, or Chivalric Knights of America, is 
conspicuous, not alone for its rapidly in- 
creasing membership, which numbers about 
60,000, but as well for its adaptation to 
American soil of the struggles of early 
Christian knighthood. The objects of the 
Order are benevolence, mutual relief against 
the trials and difficulties attending sick- 
ness, distress, and death, so far as they 
may be mitigated by sympathy and pecu- 
niary assistance; to care for and protect 
the widows and orphans; to assist those 
out of employment ; to encourage each other 



KNIGHTS OF THE GOLDEN EAGLE 



149 



in business; "to ameliorate the condition 
of humanity in every possible manner;" 
to stimulate moral and mental culture by 
wholesome precepts, fraternal counsel, and 
social intercourse, to elevate the member- 
ship to a higher and nobler life, and the 
inculcation and dissemination of the princi- 
ples of benevolence and charity. 

The organization consists of a Supreme 
Castle, Grand Castles, and subordinate Cas- 
tles. The Supreme body is composed of 
Past Grand Chiefs (of Grand Castles), and 
Grand Castles of Past Chiefs of subordinate 
Castles. This is in line with the system 
pursued by the Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows, with its Supreme Lodge, Grand, 
and subordinate Lodges; the Foresters, with 
their Supreme Court, Great and subordinate 
Courts, and many other similarly governed 
societies. The subordinate body in each 
holds allegiance to the State organization, 
and the latter to the Supreme Body. The 
ritualistic work of the Knights of the Golden 
Eagle includes three degrees: the first, or 
Pilgrim's; second, or Knight's; and third, 
or Crusaders' Degree. " The three degrees 
are symbolic of a soldier battling for his 
faith. He is first a Pilgrim, then a Knight, 
and finally a Crusader." The Pilgrim's de- 
gree teaches fidelity and eternal faithfulness 
to God and our fellow-man. The Knight's 
degree confers the honors of Knighthood, 
arms and equips the Pilgrim, and teaches 
him veneration for religion, fidelity, valor, 
courtesy, charity, and hospitality. The 
Crusader's degree sends the newly made 
knight forth upon a crusade against the 
hosts of evil, armed and equipped to con- 
quer opposing foes. The ceremonies and 
lectures are free from anything of a frivo- 
lous or objectionable character. 

The Order has for its motto, '"Fidelity, 
Valor, and Honor," a trinity of graces 
taught in its ritual. It was founded by 
John E. Burbage of Baltimore, Md., who, 
in 1872, conceived the idea of an organiza- 
tion, secret in character, which should "go 
hand in hand with religion," having for its 



theme the struggles of the Christian warrior 
after " the immortal crown. " He succeeded 
in enlisting a sufficient number of friends 
to insure the success of his plan, and by 
means of symbol and allegory representing 
"€he passing through the wilderness of sin 
and woe on the journey to the Heavenly 
Castle," the ritual was made characteristic 
and the Order established. At Shorey's 
Photograph Gallery, Xo. 129 East Balti- 
more Street, January 29, 1873, the Grand 
Castle of Maryland was organized, and steps 
were taken to institute several subordinate 
Castles, four being in active operation eight 
months later. Templar Knighthood played 
a part in the preparation of the ritual of the 
Knights of the Golden Eagle as in other 
modern Orders of Knighthood. The his- 
tory of the ancient Templars, the Hospital- 
lers, the Teutonic Knights, and the Knights 
of St. John and Malta, together with the 
example of the Masonic Knights Templars, 
has had an unending influence on the minds 
of secret society ritualists of the nineteenth 
century, and not only are the Knights of 
the Golden Eagle an evidence of it, but 
there is reason to believe their ritual is in- 
debted to membership in the O^der of those 
who had been brought to light and had been 
advanced in the parent of all modern secret 
societies. With such seed, the blossoms 
could not fail to be numerous and beautiful. 
Philadelphia Odd Fellows became interested, 
and took the new Order of Knighthood to 
the City of Brotherly Love in 1875, and by 
April, 1876, the Grand Castle of Pennsyl- 
vania was organized. The Centennial Ex- 
hibition and the financial depression which 
followed it delayed progress; but by 1880 
the banner of the Eagle Knights was un- 
furled in Massachusetts by the aid of influ- 
ential members of the Knights of Pythias; 
five subordinate Castles with a total mem- 
bership of 500 were secured, and the Grand 
Castle of that State Avas instituted in the 
following year. The Supreme Castle had 
been formed in Baltimore on January 22, 
1878. Since 1884, when a number of 



150 



KNIGHTS OF THE GOLDEN EAGLE 



prominent citizens of Philadelphia became 
interested, the progress of the Order has 
been rapid, and by Pecember, 1896, it was 
in successful operation in thirty-four States, 
with 830 Castles. During the past ten 
years its growth has been conspicuous in the 
history of kindred organizations, more than 
800 Castles having been organized during 
that period. 

It is not obligatory for the members to 
connect themselves with the military branch, 
which is an important adjunct and attracts 
the young men. The Commanderies — as 
the military bodies are termed — are separate 
from the Castles; but any Sir Knight in 
good standing in his Castle is eligible to 
membership in a Commandery. The uni- 
form of members of the Commanderies is 
elaborate and plainly patterned after, but 
still dissimilar from, that of the Masonic 
Knights Templars. The Commanderies 
now confer the degree of Chivalry, adopted 
by the Supreme Castle at its annual session 
held in Heading, Pa., October, 1896. This 
is required to be taken by those who connect 
themselves with the military branch. The 
motto of this degree is "Chivalry, Truth, 
and Peace/' and the ritual deals at length 
with chivalry and the history of the Crusades. 
Commanderies are under the control of a 
lieutenant-general, elected by the Supreme 
Castle every three years, except in States 
where there are five or more Commanderies, 
when a Grand Commandery may be insti- 
tuted. The officers of a Grand Command- 
ery are Grand Commander, Grand Vice- 
Commander, Grand Marshal, Grand Herald, 
Grand Preceptor, Grand Historian, Grand 
Almoner, Grand Inne • Guard, and Grand 
Outer Guard. The members of the Grand 
Commandery are known as Grand Cheva- 
liers, and achieve that honor by virtue of 
having passed through the posts of a subor- 
dinate Commandery. Subordinate Com- 
manderies may be beneficial or non-bene- 
ficial, as they choose. There are two depart- 
ments — the civil, which confers the degree 
and attends to all business matters; and the 



military, which has charge of drills and pa- 
rades. There is a semi-military feature in 
the ritualistic work of the Castles said to be 
very attractive, but the military work con- 
nected with the degree of Chivalry, it is 
claimed, is "unsurpassed" by any similar 
ceremonial in like societies. 

The Knights of the Golden Eagle say 
they are pioneers in protecting those who 
have passed the limit of age at which they 
can enter similar organizations. There are 
a large number of Veteran Castles, com- 
posed of men fifty years of age and over, 
which, like the Castles and Commanderies, 
have power to legislate in regard to dues 
and benefits. 

The Order also claims to be the pioneer 
in protecting those w T ho have belonged to 
Castles which have become defunct. The 
Castle of Protection, originated by Past Su- 
preme Chief J. D. Barnes of Pennsylvania, 
provides that such members may pay dues 
to, and receive benefits from, the Grand 
Castle of Pennsylvania, and the Supreme 
Castle has recently adopted a like plan for 
the benefit of those under its immediate 
jurisdiction. This branch is known as the 
National Castle of Protection. The Knights 
of the Golden Eagle have certainly taken a 
stride in advance in looking out for the wel- 
fare of members whose Castles are defunct, 
in which respect some older and larger bene- 
ficiary secret societies are remiss. In 1885 
members of the Knights of the Golden 
Eagle organized a similar society under the 
title, Legion of the' Eed Cross. The requi- 
site qualifications for membership in the 
Knights of the Golden Eagle are that the 
ajoplicant be a white man, eighteen years of 
age, of good moral character, a believer in 
the existence of a Supreme Being and of 
the Christian faith, free from mental or 
bodily infirmity, competent to support him- 
self and family, a law-abiding resident of 
the country in which he lives, and have 
sufficient education to sign his own ap- 
plication for membership, which, by the 
way, are almost exactly the qualifications 



KNIGHTS OF THE MACCABEES 



151 



demanded for admission into the Order of the 
Heptasophs, or Seven Wise Men. More than 
one-half the total membership of the Order 
is in Pennsylvania. The Grand Castle Hall 
at Philadelphia was purchased from the 
Knights of Labor for $45,000, when the lat- 
ter moved its headquarters to Washington 
a few years ago, and is a monument to the 
extent and importance of the Order in the 
Keystone State. The Death Benefit Fund 
is composed of members in good standing 
of subordinate Castles, between the ages of 
eighteen and fifty, and members of subordi- 
nate Temples (the auxiliary, or Ladies' Or- 
der), between the ages of sixteen and fifty, 
who must pass a satisfactory examination 
previous to admission. The amount paid 
to beneficiaries of members in good standing 
is $1,000 in Class A, and $500 in Class B. 
Weekly sick benefits and funeral benefits are 
paid by means of assessments at the option 
of subordinate Castles. The assessment 
in Class A is 50 cents, and in Class B 25 
cents. It will be seen that one object of the 
founders was to furnish a moderate death 
benefit to members at a low cost. In 1896 
a $250 death benefit class was provided, as- 
sessments in which are pro rata with those 
in Classes A and B. During the year 1895 
$180,000 was paid out for relief by the Cas- 
tles of the Order, the investments amount- 
ing to $850,000. 

The Eagle Home Association of Pennsyl- 
vania has for its object the protection of 
the aged Eagles, widows, and orphans, and 
is supported by a per capita from such Cas- 
tles as are enrolled in membership. The 
social feature is characteristic of the Order, 
and one night in each month is generally 
set apart for entertainments. 

The Temple degree, or Ladies of the 
Golden Eagle, is open to women of good 
moral character, not less than sixteen years 
of age, whether relatives of Knights of the 
Golden Eagle or not, as well as to members 
of the Order of the Knights of the Eagle. 
This auxiliary to the Eagle Knights has so- 
cial and beneficiary objects, and fills much 



the same place with respect to Knights of 
the Golden Eagle as the Daughters of Ee- 
bekah do to the Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows, and the Companions of the Forest 
to the Foresters of America. The "Lady 
Eagles " meet in Temples, and regulate 
their own weekly and funeral benefits and 
dues. Their total membership is about 
9,000. Temples which are separate from, 
and in no wise adjuncts of. Castles are 
under the immediate control of the Su- 
preme Castle until there are ten Temples 
in a State, when a Grand Temple may be 
formed. 

Knights of the Loyal Guard. — Found- 
ed by Edwin O. Wood, at Flint, Mich., 
January 31, 1895. Men and women are 
eligible to membership. It pays death 
benefits only. It organized Lodges in 
104 cities within two and one-half years, 
and numbers more than 5,000 mem- 
bers. 

Knights of the Maccabees. — No one 
of the popular secret beneficiary fraternal 
societies which have sprung into being dur- 
ing the latter quarter of the nineteenth 
century has been more successful than the 
Maccabees. Its original inspiration was of 
Canadian origin, but its robust youth and 
early manhood are tributes to the nurtur- 
ing care and executive capacity of Ameri- 
can citizens. The founders of the modern 
Maccabees are to be commended for quarry- 
ing the foundation stones of their ritual, 
legend, and ceremonial in strata which had 
not even been uncovered by the exploring 
hand of the secret society ritualist. The 
modern Order of Maccabean Knighthood is 
built upon the traditions and history of the 
ancient Maccabean dynasty, the achieve- 
ments of which are recorded in the first and 
second Books of the Maccabees, in the 
apocryphal Old Testament. The followers 
of Judas Maccabeus were Jews of no" par- 
ticular tribe, who braved death in the de- 
fence of their belief in the God of then- 
fathers. The name Maccabeus is said to 
have been derived from a Hebrew term 



152 



KNIGHTS OF THE MACCABEES 



signifying a hammer.* It was to Judas 
Maccabeus the Jews were indebted for the 
preservation of their political power and 
religious liberty. In the second century 
B.C., the Jews transferred their allegiance 
from Egypt to Syria, and twenty-five years 
later the Syrian King, Antiochus Epiphanes, 
commanded them to renounce their religion, 
defiled their sanctuary, and ordered them 
to pay the honors due alone to Divinity to 
the Olympian Jupiter. This the Jews un- 
der their Priest Mattathias resisted in a 
"thirty years' war/' Before the outbreak 
Mattathias, being a person of consequence, 
was tempted by a Syrian captain to embrace 
the new faith, but with his own hand he 
slew the first renegade Jew who approached 
the altar of idolatry. This precipitated 
the conflict, f Mattathias, his five sons, and 
a few faithful followers destroyed the em- 
blems of the heathen worship in Modin and 
vicinity and fled into the wilderness of 
Judea. The Hellenes, friends of the Greeks, 
aided the Syrians and the family of Mac- 
cabeus, of which Judas Maccabeus was the 
head, espoused the cause of the Jews, Judas 
Maccabeus becoming the leader of the re- 
volt after the death of his father Matta- 
thias a few years after the outbreak of the 
war in 166 B.C. The former took com- 
mand, and at Mizpah repulsed and put to 
flight the Syrians, although his forces were 
greatly outnumbered. At Bethzur he again 
put the Syrians to flight, reconquered Jeru- 
salem, purified the Temple, reestablished 
the holy service, and concluded an alliance 
with the Eomans. He fell in battle in 
16 L B.C. He was succeeded by his brother 
Jonathan, who became High Priest on the 

* It is also claimed the name " Maccabi " was 
formed from the initials of the Hebrew words mi 
Kamocha baelim, Jehovah, signifying " Who is like 
thee among the gods, Jehovah?" 

f On being summoned by the Syrian overseer and 
bade to make sacrifice to the gods, Mattathias an- 
swered: ' ' If all the people in the kingdom obey the 
order of the monarch to depart from the faith of 
their fathers, I and my sons will abide by the 
covenant of our forefathers/' 



death of Antiochus, but was murdered by 
those who feared his influence on the heir 
to the throne. Simeon, the second brother 
of Judas, aided by Eoman allies, became 
the ruler of the Jews, and finally reestab- 
lished the independence of the Jewish na- 
tion. The wisdom and moderation with 
which he used the power intrusted to him 
were so well appreciated in his own day 
that the year 141 B.C. — that after his suc- 
cession — was made the beginuing of a new 
era. 

Upon the enduring traits of character 
displayed by the ancient Maccabean family 
in the Jewish thirty years' war for religious 
and political liberty, particularly those of 
its first great representative, Judas Mac- 
cabeus, the modern Knights of the Macca- 
bees have founded their fraternal Order of 
mutual relief. It was Judas Maccabeus 
who first commanded his soldiers in divid- 
ing the fruits of their victories to reserve a 
part for the widows and orphans of their 
brothers who had fallen in battle — a promi- 
nent feature of the work of modern Macca- 
beism. 

The modern Order of the Maccabees was 
founded in 1878 by members of the Order 
of Foresters, and others, at London, On- 
tario, who were familiar with the history 
of the ancient Maccabees, and believed it 
formed an excellent framework on which to 
construct a modern fraternal and benefi- 
ciary society. They drew up a constitution, 
prepared a ritual and ceremonials, and the 
new society was born. Within two years it 
had spread throughout the Canadian Do- 
minion and into several of the United States, 
with a total membership of about 10,000. 
Its early growth is declared to have been of 
a mushroom character. No medical ex- 
amination was required of applicants, and 
assessments at deaths were only ten cents 
apiece for all members. The business man- 
agement was not of the kind which bene- 
ficiary organizations of this variety now 
require, expenses increased relatively more 
rapidly than the income, and as deaths 



KNIGHTS OF THE MACCABEES 



153 



became numerous a crisis stared the society 
in the face.* 

Believing it to possess the germs of a use- 
ful institution, some of the more conserva- 
tive business men of Michigan among its 
relatively large membership in that State 
undertook to reorganize the society at the 
grand review held at Buffalo, N". Y., in 
1880. The constitution and laws were 
changed, and the business methods revised 
and placed on a stronger foundation. This 
could not have been accomplished without 
some friction, and one outcome was the seces- 
sion of a minority of the Order in Canada, 
under the leadership of one McLaughlin 
of London. But one year later the rival 
Orders came together at Port Huron, Mich., 
in the persons of their chief executive offi- 
cials, and, after a two days' conference, were 
reunited, and elected a full corps of officers. 
It was several years before the society began 
its career of prosperity, owing to much 
"bad material" having been admitted, the 
consequent high death rate, to activity of 
would-be leaders and of leaders who were 
not competent. Major N. S. Boynton, who 
had been elected Supreme Lieutenant Com- 
mander at Buffalo, in 1881, was made 
chairman of a committee appointed at the 
Port Huron joint review, in 1881, to draft 
a new constitution and laws. The results 
of this committee's deliberations were 
adopted in February, 1881. They provided 
for the organization of Great Camps in 
States, Territories, and Provinces where the 
membership was 1,000 or more, but the 
management of the death benefit fund was 

* This was about the period of the so-called 
"Griffin defalcation " in the Independent Order of 
Foresters, which was followed in 1879 by schisms 
to escape extra assessments, the offshoot organiza- 
tions taking the names of the Independent Order 
of Foresters of Illinois, and the Canadian Order of 
Foresters. While it is probable, it has not been deter- 
mined whether or no the Knights of the Maccabees 
was devised by members of the Independent Order 
of Foresters for reasons similar to those which gave 
birth to the Illinois and Canadian Orders of For- 
esters. 



retained in the Supreme Tent. A Great 
Camp was promptly chartered in Michigan 
and incorporated June 11, 1881, which day 
has since been recognized as the anniversary 
of the reorganized Order. At the Supreme 
Tent, in July, 1881, the laws were amended, 
mainly through the exertions of the Michi- 
gan representatives, to permit Great (State) 
Camps to control benefit funds of their own 
jurisdictions. Michigan members were evi- 
dently aware that the Order, even as re- 
organized, could not long survive, and were 
apparently planning to act as heirs and 
assignees of what might remain w r hen the 
end came. At this period, September, 1881, 
Major N. S. Boynton was induced to act as 
secretary and general business manager for 
the Michigan Great Camp, official^, as 
Great Eecord Keeper. He opened an office 
in his residence at Port Huron, and ad- 
vanced funds with which to purchase sup- 
plies, charters, seals, postage stamps, etc. 
His private business took him about Michi- 
gan so frequently that be was enabled to 
work effectively for the Order, which, for a 
war, lie did without pay ; had he not 
done so, there would probably have been no 
Maccabees to-day. He subsequently became 
Great Commander of the Great Camp of 
Michigan, the highest office in the gift of 
the Fraternity in that State, which he, 
more than any other one man, may claim 
the credit for maintaining and upbuilding. 
Outside of Michigan the Order became de- 
funct. It started anew in the Peninsular 
State in 1882, with only 700 members, and 
has spread throughout the United States 
and Canada. The constitution and laws 
have been revised again, the ritual has 
been changed, and a funeral service incor- 
porated. These were largely the outcome 
of suggestions of new leaders, some of them 
Freemasons and members of other secret 
societies whose rituals and methods have 
served as models for many fraternal, bene- 
ficiary societies. The old Supreme Tent 
being dead, its members in the Michigan 
Order revived it, September, 1883, and began 



154 



KNIGHTS OF THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM 



the active work of extending the mem- 
bership throughout the country. In 1892 a 
permanent headquarters was established at 
Port Huron. Leaders among the Knights 
declare that the Order, which consists of a 
body of men banded together for the pro- 
tection of their families and homes, is not 
an insurance company, and bears the same 
relation to an insurance company that a 
father bears to a guardian. It is only 
proper to add that this distinction is drawn 
between nearly all secret, fraternal, benefi- 
ciary societies and open mutual assessment 
insurance companies, as well as between the 
former and the old line, level premium- 
paying life insurance companies. The 
Order of the Maccabees is quite compre- 
hensive as to the relief it extends. It not 
only pays benefits at the deaths of members, 
both men and women, but for disability, 
during extreme old age and sickness, for 
accidents, and to meet funeral expenses. 
These payments are met by mutual assess- 
ments, based upon the "actuaries' table 
of mortality." Assessments are made 
monthly, and include an allowance of 12 
per cent, for the actual cost of management. 
All white persons of sound bodily health 
and good moral character, socially accept- 
able, between eighteen and seventy years of 
age, are eligible to membership ; but only 
those between eighteen and fifty-two years 
of age may join and share in the beneficiary 
features. Sick benefits are from $4 to $10 
per week, while $50, $200, or $300 annually 
are paid in case of total and permanent dis- 
ability, and $50, $100, or $300 annually for 
old age benefits. A benefit of from $3 to 
$30 is paid in case of disabling accidents; 
$175 to $2,000 for the accidental loss of 
both eyes, hands, or feet, or hand and foot ; 
$100 to $1,000 for hand or foot; and $40 to 
$500 for the accidental loss of an eye. The 
funeral benefit of an unmarried member is 
$50, and the death benefit $500, $1,000, 
$2,000, or $3,000; and (where Great Camps 
exist) as high as $5,000. These benefits 
(one or all) may be secured for one member- 



ship fee when applied for at the same time, 
and on payment of dues to maintain only 
one local organization. Certain classes of 
railroad employees, expressmen, firemen, 
and miners (except coal miners, which are 
prohibited risks) are regarded as hazardous 
risks, and pay twenty-five cents additional 
assessment for each $1,000. Persons en- 
gaged in blasting, coal mining, submarine 
operations, making highly inflammable or 
explosive materials, aeronauts, electric line- 
men, etc., are not eligible to membership on 
account of the extra hazardous nature of 
the occupations; in addition to which, prin- 
cipals or agents or employees in the manu- 
facture or sale of spirituous or malt liquors, 
and those addicted to the intemperate use 
of intoxicating liquors, are ineligible to 
membership. 

The total membership of the Knights, 
December 1, 1896, of which more than one- 
third is in Michigan, was about 182,000, 
distributed throughout forty States and 
Provinces, and the death rate in 1895 was 
only 5.54 in 1,000, which was exceptionally 
low. Fully $5,000,000 in benefits have 
been paid since the Order was founded. 
The total membership, Knights and Ladies 
combined, December 1, 1896, was 248,000, 
and the combined benefits distributed had 
amounted to more than $7,000,000. 

Knights of the Star of Bethlehem. — 
See Order of the Star of Bethlehem. 

L.aclies of the Golden Eagle. — The 
women's social and beneficiary branch of 
the mutual assessment fraternal society, 
the Knights of the G-olden Eagle. (See the 
latter. ) 

Ladies of the Maccabees. — As nearly 
all the prominent beneficiary secret societies 
have auxiliary, or women's, branches, to aid 
in charitable work and assist socially and 
otherwise in promoting the interests of the 
parent organizations, so the Knights of the 
Maccabees are supplemented by the Ladies 
of the Maccabees. To Mrs. A. O. Ward of 
Muskegon, Mich., belongs the credit of 
having suggested and planned the Ladies 



LADIES OF THE MACCABEES 



155 



of the Maccabees. She drafted the original 
constitution for the first Hive, composed of 
wives of the Knights, at Muskegon. At first 
this society was local and purely social in 
character, but in 1886 application was made 
to the Great Camp for Michigan, at Kala- 
mazoo, for recognition as an auxiliary branch 
to aid local Tents socially, and for laws to 
provide for life and disability benefits to be 
managed by the auxiliary society itself. The 
request was not granted, and a second ap- 
plication in 1887 met with another refusal. 
But the efforts of the would-be Lady Mac- 
cabees were not relaxed, and as many of the 
leading Kuights had become convinced of 
the determination and ability of the ladies 
to accomplish what they had undertaken, 
the Great Camp, which met at Port Huron 
in 1888, recognized the organization of a 
Great Hive for Michigan, auxiliary to the 
Great Camp. A Great Hive was finally or- 
ganized, its laws approved by the Great 
Camp, and its officers elected and installed 
by Major N. S. Boynton, Great Record 
Keeper, in May, 1890. Organizers were 
appointed, and the ladies' Order was rapidly 
introduced throughout Michigan in connec- 
tion with various Tents of the Maccabees. 
By August, 1890, the total membership of 
the Ladies of the Maccabees was only 170, 
but from that time onward its growth, suc- 
cess, and popularity among ladies, relatives 
of the Knights of the Maccabees, and others, 
have been continuous. For some years the 
growth of the society, owing to its charter, 
was confined to Michigan. Hives were sub- 
sequently organized by Great Camps in 
other States ; but in New York and Ohio 
Great Camps retained control of subordi- 
nate Hives and of their funds. This for 
a time prevented Hives in the States named 
from being represented in the Supreme 
Hive of the Order of the Ladies of the 
Maccabees of the World, restricting their 
enjoyment of social and " fraternal " bene- 
fits of the Order in other States than their 
own. But the Supreme Hive of the Ladies 
of the Maccabees of the World was organized 



October 1, 1892, to harmonize the workings 
of various Great Hives, and to render their 
social, ritualistic, and other work uniform, 
and, as its name suggests, the Supreme 
Hive is to-day the supreme authority of the 
Ladies of the Maccabees. It is made up 
of representatives of Great Hives, and is 
the auxiliary branch of the Supreme Tent 
of the Knights of the Maccabees of the 
World, the supreme governing body of the 
Knights. 

The Ladies of the Maccabees is claimed 
to be the first movement of the kind among 
women offering death benefits, making its 
own law r s, and transacting its own business. 
Its successful career has surprised many, 
even among its well-wishers, and has shown 
that women may safely be intrusted w r ith 
the conduct and management of many of 
the broader business affairs of life. The 
total membership of the Ladies of the Mac- 
cabees, December 1, 1896, of which fully 
one-half is in Michigan, had increased to 
66,000 since the formation of the Great 
, Hive for Michigan in 1888, and may be 
found in more than one-half the States of 
the Union and in the Canadian Dominion. 
lit aids its sick and distressed members, 
cares for the living, buries its dead, and pays 
death and disability benefits. Women be- 
tween the ages of sixteen and fifty-two, 
socially acceptable, are admitted to life 
benefit membership, after passing a medical 
examination. They receive death benefit 
certificates for $500, $1,000, and $2,000, and 
in case of permanent or total disability, or 
on reaching the age of seventy years, they 
receive annually one-tenth of the sum named 
in their certificates. Thus far the death 
rate among the Ladies of the Maccabees has 
been remarkably low. The social, ritualis- 
tic, literary, and educational exercises are 
prominent features. In view of its unique 
character, the society being the first of its 
kind managed exclusively by women, it is 
proper to add that to Lady Lillian M. 
Hollister of Detroit and Lady Bina M. West 
of Port Huron is largely due the success 



156 



LEAGUE OF FRIENDSHIP, SUPREME MECHANICAL ORDER OF THE SUN 



and present high standing of the auxiliary 
branch of the Maccabees. 

League of Friendship, Supreme Me- 
chanical Order of the Sun. — A benefi- 
ciary labor organization, now extinct, mem- 
bers of which formed the Ancient Order of 
United Workmen in 1868. (See the latter.) 

Legion of the Red Cross. — One of the 
smaller mutual assessment beneficiary so- 
cieties, founded in 1885 by members of the 
Knights of the Golden Eagle, which insures 
the lives of its members in the sum of 
$1,000, seeks to procure employment for 
them, and, so far as possible, to assist them 
in business. All acceptable white men, be- 
tween eighteen and fifty years of age, who 
can pass the required physical examination, 
are eligible to membership. It is governed 
by a Supreme Council, made up of its offi- 
cers and representatives of Grand Councils, 
which have jurisdiction over subordinate 
Councils in States where established. It 
furnishes sick as well as death benefits, and, 
since it was founded, has paid nearly $160,- 
000 to beneficiaries. The ritual is based on 
the history and traditions of the Crusades, 
but, as may be supposed, has no direct or 
other relation to the Masonic or other or- 
ders of the Eed Cross. The total member- 
ship, about 4,500, is centred in Maryland, 
Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and 
New York, and its headquarters are at Bal- 
timore. The emblem is a red Maltese Cross, 
slightly modified from the conventional 
shape, with the letters L. 0. E. C. in the 
arms, and a circle in the centre containing 
a representation of the Cross and Crown. 
(See also Knights of the Golden Eagle.) 

Light of the Ages. — An Indiana fra- 
ternal beneficiary society, with its head- 
quarters at Indianapolis, which in 1897 
dropped its fraternal features, and continued 
business as an ordinary insurance company. 

Loyal Additional Benefit Associa- 
tion. — A fraternal beneficiary society, 
formed in 1889 by members of the Koyal 
Arcanum, to which only the latter are eli- 
gible as members. (See Koyal Arcanum.) 



Loyal Circle. — A new fraternal benefi- 
ciary society, organized at Champaign, 111. 

Loyal Knights and Ladies. — An out- 
growth of the Knights and Ladies of Honor. 
The latter society w r as connected with the 
Knights of Honor, and Mizpah Lodge, Bos- 
ton, was one of the most wide-awake Lodges. 
The Knights and Ladies of Honor severed 
its connection with the Knights of Honor, 
and the membership of Mizpah Lodge, dis- 
satisfied with the action of the society, dis- 
solved its connection with the Knights and 
Ladies of Honor and set up housekeeping 
on its own account as the Loyal Knights 
and Ladies. The first meeting was held 
November 11, 1881, in Boston. The for- 
mation of the other Courts devolved upon 
Court Mizpah, and until the fifth Court 
had been instituted no attempt at a higher 
body w r as made. At that time delegates 
were sent from the five Courts, and upon 
these devolved the duty of establishing the 
governing body. The Imperial Court was 
formed December 6, 1883, though it was 
known as the High Court until February 23, 
1884. No especial attempt was made to 
push matters until after the incorporation of 
the society, June 18, 1895, when some im- 
portant changes were made in its constitu- 
tion. At the present time the Order . is 
growing slowly though very satisfactorily. 
The death rate of the Order has been very 
low. 

The strongest claim the Order has upon 
its members is the genuine feeling of frater- 
nity, which has held it together when so 
many stronger societies have gone to the 
wall. Very much is done by all the Courts 
to encourage this sentiment, and many enter- 
tainments are given. The ritualistic work 
also is very good. It is a secret beneficiary 
society, admitting all socially acceptable 
white persons of suitable age who can pass 
the required physical examination. It pays 
a death benefit not to exceed $1,000, though 
the actual amount paid has never reached 
that sum. A sick benefit is provided for if 
desired, though few of the Courts have 



MODERN WOODMEN OF AMERICA 



157 



adopted the system. Kb other form of 
benefit is attached, neither accident, dis- 
ability, annuity, or endowment. The so- 
ciety has at the present time about 600 
members, about 100 of whom are social or 
non-beneficiary. The amount of the benefit 
averages $1 per assessment. 

Miriam Degree : Foresters. — Benefi- 
ciary and social branch of the Independent 
Order of Foresters, to which only mem- 
bers of the latter and women relatives and 
friends are eligible. (See Independent Order 
of Foresters and Independent Order of 
Foresters of Illinois.) 

Modern American Fraternal Order. 
— Organized at Effingham, 111., in 1896, by 
William B. Wright and others, to pay death, 
disability, and old age benefits by means of 
mutual assessments. Men and women are 
eligible to membership. About 1.000 have 
joined. 

Modern Knights' Fidelity League. — 
A mutual assessment beneficiary society for 
men and women, organized in Kansas in 
1891 by members of the Eoyal Arcanum, 
National Union, Woodmen of the World, 
and other fraternal beneficiary associations, 
and incorporated under the laws of the State 
of Kansas in 1893, with its chief offices at 
Kansas City, Kan. Membership is re- 
stricted to persons between eighteen and 
fifty-six years of age residing in the more 
healthful portions of the country. Its gov- 
ernment is on the widespread plan found 
among like societies, consisting of a Supreme 
or governing body made up of its officers 
and representatives from Grand or State 
Councils, which have direct charge of the 
subordinate Councils. Its plan of insurance 
is to combine a number of risks in one cer- 
tificate, such as a death and endowment 
benefit and annuity after the member shall 
have reached the age of seventy years. Sepa- 
rate tables of graded rates are employed to 
arrive at the cost of such benefits according 
to the age at time of joining. Weekly bene- 
fits of from $2.50 to $10 are also paid in 
cases of sickness or accident. A reserve fund 



to provide for old age, total and partial dis- 
ability benefits, and for death benefit assess- 
ments in excess of twelve annually, has been 
formed by setting aside 30 per cent, of the 
assessments on benefit certificates. Widows 
and orphans of members receive from $100 
to 81,000, $2,000, or $3,000. On reaching 
life's expectation the aged members may re- 
ceive $500, $1,000, or $1,500, and to per- 
manently disabled members $100, $200, or 
8300 is paid annually for five years, all sums 
paid for permanent disability and at life's 
expectation being deducted from the death 
benefit. This League of Modern Knights 
presents three highly instructive and inter- 
esting degrees for the consideration of those 
who desire to become members, and curi- 
ously founds its ritual on the life and adven- 
tures of Don Quixote and his companion 
Sancho Panza. It numbers about 5,000 
members. In that the ritual is based upon 
incidents in the life of these well-known 
characters in Spanish fiction, it forms one 
of the two successful organizations which 
have based their unwritten work on stories 
which underlie great and popular works of 
fiction. 

Modern Woodmen of America. — 
Among the many successful fraternal orders 
guaranteeing death benefits to members, the 
Modern Woodmen of America stands out 
prominently, numerically, financially, and 
fraternally. Its benefit certificates provide 
for the payment of $500, $1,000, $2,000, or 
$3,000 to the families of deceased mem- 
bers, and for care and attention during 
sickness. The Order is an Illinois corpora- 
tion, working under a charter granted May 
5, 1884. It was founded at Lyons, la., in 
1883, by Joseph C. Eoot, a prominent Free- 
mason, an Odd Fellow, a Knight of Pythias, 
member of the American Legion of Honor, 
and of the Ancient Order of L T nited Work- 
men. The first Camp, as its Lodges are 
called, was instituted January 5, 1883, 
which is regarded as the birth of the Order, 
although its beginning really dates back 
to 1880. Since its incorporation it has 



158 



MODERN WOODMEN OF AMERICA 



increased from a membership of 600 in 
1884 to 210,000 in 4,180 local Camps on 
September 1, 1896. 

The territory of the Modern Woodmen is 
confined by its charter to the States of Illi- 
nois, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Wiscon- 
sin, Michigan, Kansas, North Dakota, South 
Dakota, Missouri, Indiana, and Ohio, from 
which the cities of Chicago, Detroit, Mil- 
waukee, St. Louis, and Cincinnati are ex- 
cluded. This, it is claimed, makes its ter- 
ritory the healthiest in the country. In 
addition, persons engaged in hazardous oc- 
cupations are not eligible to membership.* 

Assessments to pay benefits are graduated 
according to the age of the person joining, 
the grading being in proportion to the aver- 
age expectancy of life by the standard of 
American tables. The rate remains the 
same as at the beginning, the special induce- 
ment being to young and middle-aged men. 
Ordinary expenses of the local and head 
Camps are paid by the semi-annual dues. 

* As qualifications for membership in the Wood- 
men of America are as exceptional among like rules 
in similar societies as is the rapid annual increase 
in membership, these are given in full : Persons to 
become members must be white males, over eighteen 
and under forty-five years of age, of sound health, 
exemplary habits, and good moral character. One 
who is over forty-five years of age, if but for a sin- 
gle day, is ineligible. Persons engaged in the fol- 
lowing kinds of business or employment will not be 
admitted as members of this Fraternity : Railway 
brakeman, railway engineer, fireman, and switch- 
man, miner employed under ground, mine inspector, 
pit boss, professional rider and driver in races, em- 
ployee in gunpowder factory, wholesaler or manu- 
facturer of liquors, saloon keeper, saloon bartender, 
aeronaut, sailor on the lakes and seas, plough polisher, 
brass finisher, professional base-ball player, profes- 
sional foot-ball player, professional fireman, sub- 
marine operator, or soldier in regular army in time 
of war. One who, after joining the Order, engages 
in any prohibited occupation, thereby himself voids 
his contract with the Order and renders his certifi- 
cate null and void, but may obviate this difficulty 
and retain his membership by filing with the Head 
Clerk a waiver of all right to benefits in case death 
results by reason of such prohibited occupation — 
except where engaged in the sale of intoxicant 
liquors. 



The record made by the Modern Wood- 
men of America shows that the cost of pro- 
tection has not increased within seven years ; 
that it is furnishing insurance at a cost of 
$4.96 for $1,000 per annum; that the cost 
of management is 78 cents per member; 
that the average age of membership is 35.96 
years, and that the average death rate per 
1,000 is 5.05. No other secret beneficiary 
society ever showed such an increase in 
membership within a year as that of the 
Modern Woodmen of America, which was, 
in round numbers, 45,000. There were 692 
death claims paid that year, amounting to 
$1,408,500 and the total amount paid to 
beneficiaries since organization is $6,522,385. 
The total increase in membership during 
eight months of 1896 broke the Society's 
own record, 49,350. On September 1, 1896, 
it had $515,000,000 of insurance in force. 
Under the Order's charter the head office is 
located at Fulton, 111., where C. W. Hawes 
has charge of the record department. The 
general supervision of the Order comes un- 
der the direction of Head Consul W. A. 
Northcott of Greenville, 111. Colonel A. H. 
Hollister of Madison, Wis., is intrusted 
with the funds of the Order, and the finan- 
cial supervision is under the control of the 
following gentlemen, who form the Board of 
Directors: A., E. Talbot, Chairman, Lincoln, 
Neb.; J. W. White, Eock Falls, 111.; J. N. 
Eeece, Springfield, 111.; Marvin Quacken- 
bush, Dundee, 111.; and B. D. Smith, Man- 
kato, Minn. The membership of the Order 
includes many prominent men, among them 
former Comptroller of the Currency James 
H. Eckles, William J. Bryan, ex- Governor 
Hoard of Wisconsin, and Congressman La 
Follette. 

While making a point of being particular 
to restrict its operations to the healthiest 
States in the Union, and to receive only 
young and healthy men so as to keep the 
cost of insurance as low as the lowest, the 
Modern Woodmen of America makes a 
strong feature of the social and fraternal 
side of secret society life. This is indicated 



MYSTIC WORKERS OF THE WORLD 



159 



by the following extract from an address 
before the organization in. 1894 by its then 
Head Banker (Treasurer) D. C. Tint: 

The " Woodmen " in one form or another existed 
centuries before the Golden Fleece or the Roman 
Eagle was dreamed of ; that the Orders of the Star 
and Garter, the Red Cross, and the Legion of 
Honor are things of yesterday as compared with 
them. Far back in the dim and misty ages, before 
the creatures were born, before the first stones 
were laid in the eternal city, in regions unlike 
those we see round about us, where snow-crowned 
peaks stand guard like sentinels, where babbling 
brooks and murmuring rills discoursed soft music 
to the nodding pines, the first Camp of Woodmen 
was organized. With the axe they cleared the 
forest, with the wedge they opened up the secret 
resources of nature, and with the beetle they bat- 
tered down the opposition of unworthy tribes that 
sought to bar their progress. So, my friends, we, 
as Modern Woodmen of America, have the same 
axe, beetle, and wedge, and we are destroying the 
abiding places of poverty, as they did the wild 
beasts, so that the blooming roses of happiness, the 
waving grain of plenty, the lowing herds of sym- 
pathy, the rumbling machinery of industry, and 
the stately cities of the home of the beneficiaries 
are thus maintained and protected. 

The reference to the emblems of the 
Society makes evident the effort of the 
organizers to be as original as possible in 
formulating ritual and ceremonies. Yet 
so much had been done in the way of creat- 
ing secret societies prior to 1880-83 that 
some well-traveled ground had to be cov- 
ered. Thus, notwithstanding the rela- 
tively novel emblems, the beetle and 
wedge, we find the chief official to be a 
Head Consul, which, with the employment 
of certain forms derived from ancient Rome, 
suggests a partial, though perhaps uncon- 
scious duplication of some of the rites of the 
English secret beneficiary society known as 
the Ancient Order of the Golden 'Fleece. 
The abolition of State jurisdiction is a step 
in advance among American secret bene- 
ficiary societies, particularly when the re- 
striction of territory is considered in which 
the Woodmen operate. 

Royal Neighbors of America is the title of 
the auxiliary branch of the Modern Woodmen, 



to which members of the latter and women 
relatives are eligible. It has been estab- 
lished only a few years, but gives promise 
of ably supplementing the Camps of Wood- 
men as have so many similar auxiliary or- 
ganizations attached to other beneficiary 
Orders. This branch of the Order pays 
death benefits also. The membership is 
of two varieties, beneficiary and fraternal, 
there being about 3,000 of the former and 
13,000 of the latter. 

Mystic Workers of the World. — 
Founded by O. W. Clendenen of Fulton, 
111., and incorporated under the laws of 
Illinois in 1892, to pay death and disability 
benefits by means of mutual assessments. 
Both men and women between sixteen and 
fifty-five years of age may join and be in- 
sured for $500, $1,000, $1,500, or $2,000. 
Those unable to pass the required physical 
examination may, if elected, become social 
members. A member who becomes perma- 
nently and totally disabled by sickness, acci- 
dent, or old age is entitled to one-twentieth 
of his certificate, or policy, semi-annually 
until it is cancelled. This disability clause 
is not effective "until the Order can pay a 
maximum policy in full." No assessments 
are levied after members arrive at the age 
of seventy years, and one-twentieth of the 
amount of their policies will be paid them 
every six months until cancelled, or if death 
takes place before such time, the remaining 
portion will be paid the beneficiary. Fol- 
lowers of the customary list of hazardous 
occupations are not eligible to membership. 
The founder of the Mystic Workers was a 
member of the Masonic Fraternity, of the 
Knights of Pythias, Modern Woodmen of 
America, Knights of the Maccabees, and 
Woodmen of the World, from which it may 
be inferred that the Mystic Workers is the 
legitimate offspring of some of the most 
representative of the older and modern fra- 
ternities. Its emblem includes two columns 
or pillars surmounted by two globes, and 
between them an open Bible, the scales of 
justice, a plane and square. The ritual 



160 



NATIONAL FRATERNAL CONGRESS 



emphasizes Charity, as described in I. Cor- 
inthians xiii. There are about 3,000 Mys- 
tic Workers enrolled* 

National Fraternal Congress. — (Con- 
tributed byN. S. Boynton, Past President.) 
At the Fourteenth Annual Session of the 
Supreme Lodge of the Ancient Order of 
United Workmen, held at Minneapolis in 
June, 1886, a resolution was adopted which 
led to the organization of the National 
Fraternal Congress. The following is a 
copy: 

Resolved, That the incoming Supreme Master 
Workman be authorized to appoint, upon the basis 
hereinafter stated, a committee, who shall also act 
as delegates on the part of the Supreme Lodge, to 
bring about a meeting and permanent organization 
of representatives of fraternal beneficiary societies ; 
that such committee invite other beneficiary socie- 
ties to unite in such an association ; that repre- 
sentation in such association for the first meeting 
to be one delegate for the first 40,000 beneficiary 
members, or part thereof, or any organization tak- 
ing part, and one delegate for each additional 
40,000 members or fractional part thereof in excess 
of 20,000 ; and that such committee have power to 
arrange further details to secure the perfect organ- 
ization and perpetuation of such an association of 
representatives. 

Supreme Master Workman Badgerow ap- 
pointed as such committee : A. L. Levi, 
Minneapolis, Minn. ; Hon. O. F. Berry, 
Carthage, 111., and Warren Totten, barris- 
ter, Woodstock, Ont., with Leroy Andrus 
of Buffalo as chairman. A call was ac- 
cordingly issued for a preliminary meet- 
ing of representatives of various fraternal 
beneficiary societies, to be held at Wash- 
ington, D. C, November 16, 1886. After 
reciting the foregoing resolution the call 
set forth the objects of the convention sub- 
stantially as follows : 

The widely extended influence and vast pecun- 
iary interests connected with and represented by 
the great beneficiary societies of the present time 
render them a most important and interesting 
feature of social development in this country. 
There are a large number (not less than fifty) of 
those societies, each having a considerable member- 
ship, carrying on a purely fraternal, beneficiary 
business in the United States, and among these are 



not included any merely speculative assessment or 
non-fraternal cooperative concerns. Their meth- 
ods are, in a very great degree, the same, and their 
interests are based on principles which are iden- 
tical. It is confidently believed that the formation 
of a national body will prove of great advantage to 
every organization represented. The cooperative 
plan of insurance as carried on by our societies 
has not wholly laid aside the character of an ex- 
periment, and the fundamental principles upon 
which their future depends have never been fully 
proven or even investigated. It would be as unrea- 
sonable to expect a successful importing merchant 
to carry on business in ignorance of foreign and 
domestic markets, the rate of exchange, etc., as to 
expect our great fraternities to achieve the highest, 
and especially a continued, success, knowing noth- 
ing of the rules which govern admissions, lapses, 
death rates, and other questions relating to such 
organizations. These ideas are, of course, not 
new to you who have had much experience in the 
work of fraternities, and it is of course evident to 
you that the investigation of these principles can 
best be conducted through cooperation, and that 
their efficiency and value are increased in propor- 
tion as the study is made common to all. There 
are many other results which an association of 
these societies may accomplish and which may be 
productive of good, not the least of which is that 
a "fraternity of fraternities" will be formed and 
the fraternal character of our organization be 
more firmly fixed. The following subjects are sug- 
gested as among those which would be of the ut- 
most interest, although the field of discussion may 
profitably be extended. First, the laws relating 
to cooperative associations and the necessity of 
further legislation in aid of fraternal societies and 
the securing of uniform laws ; second, the discus- 
sion of means by which more perfect medical ex- 
aminations can be secured, etc. ; and, third, the 
general principles necessary to the successful carry- 
ing on of fraternal cooperative societies. Repre- 
sentatives of non-fraternal assessment associations 
are not eligible to membership. 

The meeting was held pursuant to call, 
and Leroy Andrus of Buffalo was elected 
temporary chairman, and R C. Hill of 
Buffalo secretary. The societies repre- 
sented were as follows : 

Ancient Order of United Workmen, Leroy 
Andrus, Warren Totten, A. L. Levi, and 
O. F. Berry, Carthage, 111. 

Knights of Honor, W. H. Barnes, San 
Francisco, Cal. 



NATIONAL FRATERNAL CONGRESS 



161 



United Order of Honor, A. W. Wishard, 
Indianapolis, Ind. 

Order United American Mechanics, C. 
H. Stein, Baltimore, Md. 

Order United Friends, 0. M. Shedd, 
Poughkeepsie, N. Y. 

Empire Order Mutual Aid, J. H. Meech, 
Buffalo, N. Y. 

Select Knights, Ancient Order United 
Workmen, E. C. Hill, Buffalo, N. Y. 

Endowment Eank, Knights of Pythias, 
Halvor Nelson, Washington, D. C. 

Equitable Aid Union, R. N. Seaver, Co- 
lumbus, Pa. 

Knights of the Maccabees, N. S. Boyn- 
ton, Port Huron, Mich. 

Royal Arcanum, A. C. Trippe, Baltimore, 
Md.; J. Haskell Butler, Boston, Mass. 

Knights of Columbia, C. P. Kriezer, 
New York City. 

Knights of the Golden Rule, J. D. Ir- 
ving, Toledo, 0. 

United Order of the Golden Cross, A. M. 
McBath, Washington, D. C. 

Royal Templars of Temperance, C. K. 
Porter, Buffalo, N. Y. 

Home Circle, J. H. Butler, Boston, Mass. 

The orders and membership represented 
were as follows : Ancient Order of United 
Workmen, 175,000; Knights of Honor, 
130,000 ; Royal Arcanum, 76,000 ; Order 
of United American Mechanics, 40,000 ; 
Royal Templars of Temperance, 22,000 ; 
Equitable Aid Union, 17,000 ; Endowment 
Rank, Knights of Pythias, 16,000 ; Order 
of United Friends, 12,0C0 ; Select Knights, 
Ancient Order United Workmen, 11,000 ; 
Knights of the Maccabees, 11,000 ; United 
Order of the Golden Cross, 9,000 ; Empire 
Order of Mutual Aid, 8,000 ; United Order 
of Honor, 7,000 ; Knights of the Golden 
Rule, 9,000 ; Home Circle, 5,000 ; Knights 
of Columbia, 2,000 ; a grand total of 
535,000, with outstanding life benefits 
amounting to $1,200,000,000. After a dis- 
cussion the following permanent officers were 
chosen : President, Leroy Andrus ; First 
Vice-President, W. H. Barnes ; Second 
11 



Vice-President, John Haskell Butler ; Re- 
cording Secretary, R. C. Hill ; Correspond- 
ing Secretary, O. M. Shedd ; and Treasurer, 
Halvor Nelson. The following declaration 
was adopted : " This association shall be 
known as the National Fraternal Congress. 
Its objects are hereby declared to be the 
uniting permanently of all legitimate fra- 
ternal benefit societies for purposes of mu- 
tual information, benefit, and protection. 
Its membership shall be composed of its 
officers, standing committees, and of repre- 
sentatives as follows : Each society of 40,000 
members shall be entitled to one representa- 
tive, and for each additional 40,000 mem- 
bers, or fraction of 40,000 over 20,000, an 
additional representative. At any meeting 
when a test ballot or vote shall be required, 
and any society not fully represented, the 
representative or representatives present 
shall be authorized to cast the full vote to 
which his or their order may be entitled. 
No fraternal society, order, or association 
shall be entitled to representation in this 
Congress, unless said society, order, or as- 
sociation works under a ritual, holds regular 
lodge or similar meetings, and pays endow- 
ment moneys to the beneficiaries of its de- 
ceased members. This Congress shall meet 
annually on the third Tuesday of November, 
at such place as may be selected." 

After a two days' session, during which a 
number of papers were read and discussed, 
the Congress adjourned to meet in Phila- 
delphia, Pa., on the third Tuesday in No- 
vember, 1887. 

The next annual meeting was held in 
Philadelphia, November 15, 1887. The 
attendance was smaller than at Washing- 
ton the year before, and the feeling at first 
was strongly in favor of abandoning the or- 
ganization ; but it was finally decided to 
continue the Congress. Papers were read, 
topics of interest to the orders were dis- 
cussed, and several societies not represented 
the year before were admitted. The fol- 
lowing officers were elected : President, 
John Haskell Butler, Boston, Mass.; First 



162 



NATIONAL FRATERNAL CONGRESS 



Vice-President, Warren Totten, Woodstock, 
Ont.; Second Vice-President, K. N. Seaver, 
M.D., of Pennsylvania ; Eecording Secre- 
tary, Samuel Nelson of New York ; Cor- 
responding Secretary, 0. M. Shedd of New 
York ; and Treasurer, George Hawkes of 
Pennsylvania. 

At the second annual session, held in 
Murray Hill Hotel, New York City, No- 
vember 20 and 21, 1888, with increased at- 
tendance and greater interest, seven Orders 
were admitted as new members. Papers on 
various subjects were read and discussed, 
and the constitution and laws were amended 
so as to do away with the office of Second 
Vice-President, and to merge the offices Of 
Corresponding and Eecording Secretaries. 
Officers elected at this session were : Presi- 
dent, John Haskell of Boston ; Vice-Presi- 
dent, Warren Totten ; Corresponding and 
Eecording Secretary, 0. M. Shedd ; and 
George Hawkes, Treasurer. 

The third annual session was held in Bos- 
ton, November 12 and 13, 1889. Twenty- 
six societies were represented, and four 
others were admitted. The following offi- 
cers were elected : President, D. H. Shields ; 
Vice-President, A. E. Savage, Lewiston, 
Me.; Secretary, 0. M. Shedd ; Treasurer, 
George Hawkes. 

The fourth annual session was held in 
Pittsburg, Pa., November 11 and 12, 1890, 
with a still larger attendance, societies rep- 
resented having a total membership of over 
one million. The Committee on Legisla- 
tion was directed to draft a uniform law, 
with the object of having separate and dis- 
tinct laws for the regulation of frateral 
beneficiary societies passed by the State 
legislatures. The following officers were 
chosen ; President, A. E. Savage ; Vice- 
President, Adam Warnock of Boston, 
Mass.; and Secretary and Treasurer, 0. 
M. Shedd. 

The fifth annual session was held in 
Washington, D. C, November 10, 11, and 
12, 1891, when thirty-two societies were 
represented, with a total membership of 



over one million two hundred thousand. 
"During the session the Congress, as a body, 
visited the White House and met President 
Harrison. Among the more important 
papers read was one by J. E. Shapherd, 
" Can a fraternal society safely transact an 
endowment business and pay a stated sum 
at the end of a stated number of years, or 
sooner in the event of death ? " and one by 
N. S. Boynton on " Should assessment 
notices be dispensed with ?" Others were: 
" Should medical examiners be elected by the 
lodge, appointed by the chief medical ex- 
aminer, or chosen by the supreme body ?" 
Dr. J. Foster Bush ; and the " Uses of a 
ritual and secret ceremonies in benefit or- 
ders," by C. W. Hazzard. Frank N. Gage 
read a paper on the "Advisability of 
abolishing the per capita tax and levying 
all revenues for the general fund upon the, 
same basis as assessments are levied to pay 
death benefits ; " and B. F. Nelson one on 
the topic, "Is it advisable for fraternal 
benefit societies to prohibit the admission 
of men engaged personally in the sale of in- 
toxicating liquors ?" A special committee 
was appointed to confer with the Postmaster- 
General, with reference to the circulation 
of fraternal society journals through the 
United States mails, by paying the rates 
fixed for second-class matter. Officers 
elected were as follows : President, Adam 
Warnock ; Vice-President, M. G. Jeffris, 
Janesville, Wis.; Secretary and Treasurer, 
0. M. Shedd. 

The sixth annual session was held at 
Washington, D. C, November 15, 16, 17, 
1892. Delegates were present from thirty- 
three societies with a total membership of 
1,250,000. Among papers read were : 
"The typical frater," by Louis Maloney ; 
"Am I my brother's keeper ?" by W. S. 
Bailey; "Increasing membership," by John 
J. Acker ; "Press and societies/' by J. D. 
Smith ; " The state and its relations to fra- 
ternal beneficiary societies/" by Howard H. 
Morse ; " Securing legislation/' by D. E. 
Stevens ; and " Fraternal duties/' by A. L. 



NATIONAL FRATERNAL CONGRESS 



163 



Barbour. A. R. Savage, from the Com- 
mittee on Laws, presented a report on the 
revision of uniform laws in the form of a bill 
entitled, " An Act regulating fraternal ben- 
eficiary societies, orders, or associations," 
which was adopted, and action taken look- 
ing toward the passage of the bill through 
the legislatures of the different States and 
in the Provinces of Canada. The following 
officers wereelected: President, M.G. Jeffris; 
Vice-President, N. S. Boynton ; Secretary 
and Treasurer, 0. M. Shedd.. 

The seventh annual session was held at 
Cincinnati, 0., November 21, 22, and 23, 

1893, when thirty-six organizations, having 
a total membership of nearly one million 
three hundred and fifty thousand, were rep- 
resented. A very large number of valuable 
papers was read and discussed, as in previ- 
ous sessions. A committee to be known as 
the Committee on Fraternal Press was ap- 
pointed to secure, if possible, the passage of 
an act by Congress which would permit 
fraternal publications to be mailed as sec- 
ond-class matter. A paper on "Women in 
fraternal societies" was presented by Mrs. 
Emma M. Gillette of Washington, D. C. 
The following officers were elected : Presi- 
dent, N. S. Boynton ; Vice-President, S. A. 
Wills, Pittsburg, Pa. ; Secretary and Treas- 
urer, 0. M. Shedd. 

The eighth annual session was held at 
Buffalo, X. Y., November 20, 21, and 22, 

1894. Forty orders, having a total member- 
ship of 1,300,000, were represented. The 
Committee on Fraternal Press reported they 
had succeeded in securing legislation admit- 
ting to the mails all fraternal journals as 
second-class matter. The following officers 
were chosen : President, S. A. Wills ; Vice- 
President, W. R. Spooner, New York ; Sec- 
retary, M. W. Sackett, Meadville, Pa. 

The ninth session was held at Toronto, 
Can., November 19, 20, and 21, 1895 ; 
forty orders, having a total membership 
of 1,400,000, were represented. The Com- 
mittee on Statistics submitted a report 
showing that the total benefits paid since 



their organization by forty orders repre- 
sented, amounted to $228,447,120, and that 
during 1894 more than $28,000,000 had 
been disbursed. The ratio of expense to 
benefits was $65.67 for each $1,000, and the 
ratio of expense to membership was $1.27 
per capita, and the average rate of mortal- 
ity was 9.92 per 1,000. Certificates in force 
amounted to $2,855,018,610. The medical 
section; formed of medical examiners-in- 
chief of orders represented, met, and a num- 
ber of papers were submitted. The follow- 
ing officers were elected : President, W. R. 
Spooner ; Vice-President, John G. John- 
son, Peabody, Kan., and Secretary, M. W. 
Sackett. 

The tenth annual session was held at 
Louisville, Ky., November 17, 18, and 19, 
1896. Forty-three orders, with a total mem- 
bership of 1,587,859, were represented. 
President Spooner *s annual address stated 
that material progress had been made in 
securing legislation in the interest of fra- 
ternal beneficiary orders. At this session, 
too, the necessity for increasing rates of 
assessments was considered, basing them on 
some recognized mortality tables, so as to 
provide an emergency fund with which to 
meet an increased death rate, which it was 
held would appear as the Orders grow older. 
The concensus of opinion favored the pro- 
posed change. The following officers were 
elected : President, J. G. Johnson, Peabody, 
Kan. ; Vice-President, James E. Shepard, 
Lawrence, Mass.; Secretary and Treasurer, 
M. W. Sackett ; Chaplain, Rev. J. G. Tate, 
Grand Island, Neb. The titles of the or- 
ganizations represented at Louisville in 
1896, together with the names of delegates 
there, contrasted with like data respecting 
the first Congress, that held at Washington 
in 1886, fitly represent the growth of 
the " fraternity of fraternities " sentiment 
throughout the country. 

Titles of Orders and names of delegates 
at the National Fraternal Congress of 1896 : 

American Legion of Honor, Adam War- 
nock, Boston, Mass. 



164 NATIONAL FRATERNAL CONGRESS 

Ancient Order of the Pyramids, E. S. Pa. ; B. F. Nelson, St. Louis, Mo., and L. 

McClintock, Topeka, Kan. A. Gratz, Louisville, Ky. 

Ancient Order of United Workmen, Knights of the Loyal Guard, Mark W. 

Joseph E. Eiggs, Lawrence, Kan.; J. G-. Stevens and Orson Millard, M.D., Flint, 

Tate, Grand Island, Neb. ; and D. H. Mich. 

Shields, M.D., Hannibal, Mo. Order of the Maccabees, D. D. Aitkin, 

Artisans' Order of Mutual Protection, Flint, Mich. ; Thomas Watson, Mrs. M. M. 

Louis Maloney, Philadelphia, Pa. Danforth, and R. E. Moss, M.D., Port 

Chosen Friends, Louis A. Steber, St. Huron, Mich. ; George J. Seigle, Buffalo, 

Louis, Mo. ; William B. Wilson, Newark, N. Y. ; Edward L. Young, Norwalk, 0.; 

N. J. ; Henry Jamison, M.D., Indianapo- Mrs. Lillian M. Hollister, Detroit, Mich., 

lis, Ind. and Mrs. Frances E. Burns, St. Louis, 

Empire Knights of Relief, Frank E. Mich. 

Munger, Buffalo, N. Y., and Philip A. Legion of the Red Cross, H. F. Ackley, 

McCrae, M.D., Buffalo, N. Y. Camden, N. J. 

Equitable Aid Union, Albert Morgan, Loyal Additional Benefit Association, 

Corry, Pa. Frank S. Petter, Jersey City, N. J. 

Fraternal Aid Association, William T. Modern Woodmen of America, Jasper 

Walker, Kansas City, Kan., and Levi N. Reece, Springfield, 111. ; W. A. North- 

Horner, M.D., Wichita, Kan. cott, Greenville, 111.; Charles W. Hawes, 

Fraternal Legion, J. W. P. Bates, M.D., Fulton, 111. ; A. 0. Faulkner, Lincoln, 

Baltimore, Md. Neb.; Benjamin D. Smith, Mankato, Minn., 

Fraternal Mystic Circle, D. E. Stevens, and C. A. McCollum, M.D., Minneapolis, 

Philadelphia, Pa., and F. S. Wagenhals, Minn. 

M.D., Columbus, 0. Mutual Protection, Dr. W. K. Harrison, 

Golden Chain, J. A. Baden, M.D., Balti- Chicago, 111. 

more, Md. National Provident Union, Edward S. 

Home Circle, Julius M. Swain, Boston, Peck, New York city. 

Mass. National Reserve Association, F. W. 

Improved Order of Heptasophs, F. L. Sears and J. T. Craig, M.D., Kansas City, ' 

Brown, Scranton, Pa. ; John G. Mitchell, Mo. 

Baltimore, Md., and J. H. Christian, National Union, W. M. Bayne, Cleve- 

M.D., Baltimore, Md. land, 0.; J. W. Meyers, Toledo, 0., and 

Independent Order of Foresters, Oron- M. R. Brown, M.D., Chicago, 111. 

hyatekha, M.D., Toronto, Ont. ; A. E. New England Order of Protection, Lucius 

Stevenson, Chicago, 111. ; J. D. Clark, P. Deming, New Haven, Conn. 

Dayton, 0., and Thomas Millman, M.D., Order United Friends, John G. H. 

Toronto, Ont. Meyers, New York city. 

Iowa Legion of Honor, Dr. E. R. Hutch- Protected Home Circle, W. S. Palmer 

ins, Des Moines, la. and S. Heilman, M.D., Sharon, Pa. 

Knights and Ladies of Security, W. B. Royal Arcanum, John E. Pound, Lock- 

Kirkpatrick, Topeka, Kan., and H. A. port, N. Y. ; J. A. Langfitt, Pittsburg, 

Warner, M.D., Topeka, Kan. Pa. ; Justin F. Price, New York city; W. 

Knights and Ladies of the Golden 0. Robson, Boston, Mass., and J. M. 

Star, Rev. Samuel P. Lacey, Newark, McKinstry, Cleveland, 0. 

N. J. Royal League, C. 0. Linthicum and Wal- 

Knights of Honor, John Mulligan, Yon- lace K. Harrison, M.D., Chicago, 111. 

kers, N. Y. ; J. W. Goheen, Philadelphia, Royal Society of Good Fellows, D. S. 



NATIONAL FRATERNAL CONGRESS 



165 



Biggs, Arlington, Mass., and W. G. Weaver, 
M.D., Wilkesbarre, Pa. 

Kojal Templars of Temperance, T. N. 
Boyle, D.D., Pittsburg, Pa., and J. W. 
Grosvenor, M.D., Buffalo, X. Y. 

Select Friends, Dr. J. T. Tinder, Parsons, 
Kan. 

Shield of Honor, James H. Livingston, 
Baltimore, Md. 

Supreme Tribe of Ben Hur, D. W. Gerard 
and J. F.Davidson, M.D.,Crawfordsville,Ind. 

United Order of Pilgrim Fathers, J. 
Albion Briggs, Somerville, Mass. ; J. S. 
Taft, Keene, N. H. 

United Order of the Golden Cross, John 
N. Ehle, Washington, D. C. ; J. D. Young, 
M.D., Winthrop, Mass. 

Woodmen of the World, W. 0. Rogers, 
M.D., and Joseph 0. Root, Omaha, Neb. ; 
F. A. Falkenberg, Denver, Col. 

The above societies, with probably ten 
others not represented in the Congress, 
although eligible, constitute the fraternal 
beneficiary system of the country, and are 
in no way to be classed with the old line life 
or open business assessment associations, 
nor with any orders or associations not 
recognized by the National Fraternal Con- 
gress as a part of the fraternal beneficiary 
system of life protection. The foregoing 
orders had a combined membership of over 
one million and a half in 1896, and had 
paid out within a year for life benefits the 
sum of $28,034,855 ; total paid out since 
organization, $231,043,180 ; total value of 
life benefit certificates in force, $3,026,- 
545,042. The net increase of membership 
during the year was 165,54-J, all of which 
goes to show what the fraternal beneficiary 
system of the country as represented in the 
National Fraternal Congress has accom- 
plished in a little over a quarter of a century. 

In view of the extraordinary results from 
this form of cooperation since the close of 
the Civil War, it is important to carefully 
distinguish between the three distinct sys- 
tems of life protection now in operation. 

First, the " old line life insurance, or level 



premium system," with its endowment, ton- 
tine, and semi-tontine features. In this 
there is a contract between the company and 
the insured called a policy, and profit is the 
controlling object. In every State there are 
laws providing for the incorporation of com- 
panies using this system and for governing 
their operations. 

.Second, the open business assessment sys- 
tem, iu which the contract between the asso- 
ciations and the insured is sometimes called 
a policy and sometimes a certificate. This 
system has no lodges or fraternal bond to 
bind the insured together, and the associa- 
tions are merely business concerns without 
a representative form of government, gen- 
erally close corporations. In every State, 
also, laws are found for their incorporation 
and supervision. 

Third, the fraternal beneficiary system, 
composed of societies having a representa- 
tive form of government, subordinate 
lodges, and ritualistic work, furnishing 
financial assistance to living members in 
sickness or destitution, providing for the 
payment of benefits to living members in 
case of partial or total physical disability 
arising from sickness or old age, and pro- 
viding benefits at the death of members for 
their families or dependent blood relatives. 

The lines of demarcation between the three 
are clear and distinct, and have been kept so 
in all legislative enactments relating to them. 

The uniform bill adopted by the National 
Fraternal Congress, which has been en- 
grafted on the statute books of several of 
the States, defines what constitutes a fra- 
ternal beneficiary society in the following 
terms: Section 1. A fraternal beneficiary 
association is hereby declared to be a cor- 
poration, society, or voluntary association, 
formed or organized and carried on for the 
sole benefit of its members and their bene- 
ficiaries and not for profit. Each associa- 
tion shall have a lodge system, with ritual- 
istic form of work and representative form 
of government, and shall make provision 
for the payment of benefits in case of death, 



166 



NATIONAL FRATERNAL CONGRESS 



and may make provision for the payments 
of benefits in case of sickness, accident, or 
old age, provided the period in life at which 
payment of physical disability benefits on 
account of old age commences shall not be 
under seventy (70) years, subject to their 
compliance with its constitution and laws. 
The fund from which the payment of such 
benefits shall be made and the fund from 
which the expenses of such, association shall 
be defrayed shall be derived from assess- 
ments or dues collected from its members. 
Payments of death benefits shall be to the 
families, heirs, blood relatives, affianced 
husbands, affianced wives, or to persons de- 
pendent upon the members. Such associa- 
tions shall be governed by this act, and shall 
be exempt from the provisions of insurance 
laws of this State, and no law hereafter 
passed shall apply to them unless they be 
expressly designated therein. 

The laws of the National Fraternal Con- 
gress declare that no fraternal society, 
order, or association shall be entitled to 
representation in it unless the latter " works 
under a ritual, holds regular lodge or sim- 
ilar meetings, where the purposes are con- 
fined to visitation of the sick, relief of dis- 
tress, burial of the dead, protection of wid- 
ows and orphans, education of the orphan, 
payment of a benefit for temporary or per- 
manent disability or death, and where these 
principles are an obligated duty on all mem- 
bers, to be discharged without compensation 
or pecuniary reward; where the general 
membership attend to the general business 
of the order, and where a fraternal interest 
in the welfare of each other is a duty taught, 
recognized, and practised as the motive and 
bond of organization. ' ' The mutual agree- 
ment between the fraternal society and the 
member is not a policy or contract like that 
entered into between a life insurance com- 
pany and its policy-holder. Fraternal soci- 
eties simply issue a certificate of member- 
ship, in which the member agrees to comply 
with all rules and regulations in force at the 
time he becomes a member, and with all 



changes in the laws, etc., that may be law- 
fully made during his membership. He has 
no vested or property rights while living 
and belonging to such societies unless he 
should become sick or disabled, and then 
only after his claim has been allowed. After 
the death of a member who has complied 
with the laws, the beneficiary has a vested 
or property right to the amount of a de- 
ceased member's certificate, as provided by 
the society's laws. These orders are co- 
operative bodies, members mutually agree- 
ing to protect each other and their families 
and dependents in case of sickness, disabil- 
ity, or death by contributing a certain 
amount of money from time to time to pro- 
vide for the payment of the sum specified in 
the certificate. No term-endowment, ton- 
tine, or any other form of speculative cer- 
tificates are issued, neither can a certificate 
within the objects and purposes of a legiti- 
mate beneficiary order be made payable to a 
member or his creditor, nor can it be used 
as collateral for a loan or have a surrender 
value. The holder can transfer it to any 
legal beneficiary without the consent of the 
person named in the certificate, but the 
policy of a life insurance company cannot 
be so transferred. The courts hold that a 
beneficiary of a member has no vested 
rights in the certificate, but that a per- 
son named as the payee has such rights. 
The decision of the supreme court of 
Pennsylvania in the Dickinson case, "Ella 
M. Dickinson vs. Grand Lodge of Ancient 
Order of United Workmen of Pennsylva- 
nia," defines the objects and purposes of 
fraternal beneficiary societies, and holds that 
they are not insurance corporations, but 
purely benevolent associations, as follows: 
"The first specification charges error in 
admitting the application thus referred 
to. This is grounded on the assumption 
that defendant (the A. 0. U. W.) is an in- 
surance company, and the contract sued 
on is a contract of assurance on the life of 
plaintiff's husband for her benefit. Such 
assumption, however, is unwarranted. The 



NATIONAL PROVIDENT UNION 



1«7 



defendant is not an insurance company, but 
belongs to the distinctly recognized class of 
organizations known as benevolent associa- 
tions. What is known as a benevolent or- 
ganization, however, has a wholly different 
object and purpose in view. The great un- 
derlying purpose of the organization is not 
to indemnify or secure against loss; its de- 
sign is to accumulate a fund from the con- 
tributions of its members for beneficial or 
protective purposes, to be used in their own 
aid or relief, in the misfortunes of sickness, 
injury, or death. The benefits, although 
secured by contracts, and for that reason, to 
a limited extent, assimilated to the proceeds 
of insurance, are not so considered. Such 
societies are rather of a philanthropic or 
benevolent character; their beneficial fea- 
tures may be of a narrow or restricted char- 
acter; the motives of the members may be 
to some extent selfish, but the principle 
upon which they rest is founded in the con- 
siderations mentioned. These benefits, by 
the rule of their organizations, are paying to 
their own unfortunate, out of funds which 
the members themselves have contributed 
for the purpose, not as an indemnity or 
security against loss, but as a protective re- 
lief in case of sickness or injury, or to pro- 
vide the means of a decent burial in the 
event of death. Such societies have no cap- 
ital stock. They yield no profit, and their 
contracts, although beneficial and protective, 
altogether exclude the idea of insurance, or 
of indemnity, or of securing against loss." 
Hence it will be seen that the fraternal 
beneficiary orders are purely cooperative and 
non-speculative, and do not in any sense 
furnish life insurance. Neither can they 
be classed with the open business assessment 
associations; there is nothing in common 
between them. 

National Fraternity. — Organized at 
Philadelphia in 1893 by members of the 
Ancient Order of United Workmen, a fra- 
ternal mutual assessment beneficiary soci- 
ety, which both men and women between 
eighteen and fifty years of age may join. 



It pays death benefits of from 1500 to 
$2,500 ; total disability benefits of from 
$250 to $1,250; and sick and accident bene- 
fits of from $5 to $25 weekly, with a cash 
distribution at stated periods of all earnings 
and accumulations, and a savings dividend 
every five years of membership. Lodges 
are governed by Sections, corresponding to 
Grand or State bodies, and the Fraternity 
at large is under the jurisdiction of the 
Board of Control, made up of its officers 
and representatives of the Sections. By the 
system of five-year credits it is proposed to 
cancel all sick benefits drawn during that 
period. Any excess is to be carried over 
against a succeeding five-year credit period. 
Sick benefits, previously drawn, are de- 
ducted from total disability claims, and 
likewise all benefits drawn for permanent or 
temporary disability are deducted from the 
ultimate death benefit, unless already can- 
celled by the five-year credits. "In this 
manner those who never draw sick benefits 
will not suffer from those who do." The^ 
former A. O. U. W. plan of fixed assess- 
ments of $1.10 characterizes the organiza- 
tion, the headquarters of which are at 
Philadelphia. The ritual of the Society is 
based on the history of the United States, 
and its leading emblem is the dome of the 
capitol. Like so many other similar fra- 
ternities, it has a motto in three words : 
" Charity, Union, and Fellowship. " The 
total number of members is about 3,000. 

National Provident Union. — An as- 
sessment, beneficiary and patriotic organi- 
zation, founded at Xew York in 1883. It 
is governed by a Congress patterned after 
the U"nited States House of Eepresentatives. 
Its 10,000 members are found principally in 
Xew England and the Middle States, but 
the Order is pushing its way rapidly to the 
front and is already establishing new Coun- 
cils in Central and Western States. Its 
democratic character is shown by there 
being 300 members of its Congress. Its 
death benefits range from 81,000 to 85,000, 
and the live interest taken in securing the 



168 



NATIONAL RESERVE ASSOCIATION 



most advanced system of assessments to meet 
death benefit payments is indicative of the 
exceptional vitality of the organization. It 
is very strong in Greater New York, where 
it maintains permanent headquarters. 

National Reserve Association. — 
Founded in 1891 at Kansas City, Mo., by 
F. W. Sears, 32°, an Odd Fellow, a Knight 
of Pythias, and a member of several fraternal 
beneficiary orders. It receives acceptable 
white men and women on equal terms, to 
whom or their beneficiaries it pays, by means 
of assessments, permanent, total, and death 
benefits. Total membership about 5,000. 

National Union.— One of the more pro- 
gressive fraternal assessment beneficiary so- 
cieties, organized in Mansfield, 0., and in- 
corporated under the laws of Ohio, May 11, 
1881, by Dr. A. E. Keyes, N. N. Leyman, 
E. V. Anders, George W. Cole, and others. 
Dr. Keyes, who was elected Medical Di- 
rector, had been Supreme Director of the 
Knights of Honor and Supreme Eegent of 
the Eoyal Arcanum. N. N. Leyman was 
also a man of experience among fraternal 
societies, and for years was chairman of the 
Committee on Laws of the Supreme Council 
of the Eoyal Arcanum. George W. Cole 
was a Freemason. Among the first Board 
of Officers were Dr. W. G. Graham of Win- 
field, Kan. ; George L. Fuller of Bingham- 
ton, N. Y., and J. W. Meyers of Columbus, 
0., each of whom had had experience in 
similar societies. 

The special purposes of the Order, as set 
forth at the time of organization, were: That 
the National Union is a distinctively Ameri- 
can, secret, beneficiary Order, formed to as- 
sociate white male citizens of good moral 
character, sound bodily health, between 
twenty and fifty years of age, to advance its 
members morally, socially, and intellectually; 
to provide for the relief of sick and dis- 
tressed members and their families, and to 
secure a benefit fund from which, upon the 
death of a member, a sum not exceeding 
$5,000 shall be paid to such beneficiaries 
related to the deceased member as may have 



been designated in accordance with laws 
of the Order. Certificates are issued in 
amounts of $1,000, $2,000, $3,000, $4,000, 
or $5,000. 

The feature in which the National Union 
differed from the fraternal societies that 
preceded it was in the adoption of a system 
of assessments graded according to age, 
advancing each year with the age of its 
members, on the " step-rate" principle, by 
which each member pays from year to year 
the actual cost of the protection afforded. 
This system is based on the increasing cost 
of insurance as a member advances in age. 
The vitality of the Order does not, therefore, 
depend upon new members alone, but is also 
preserved by the increasing rate of assess- 
ments of members, thus overcoming the ob- 
jection commonly urged against assessment 
societies which do not have reserve funds. 
The argument is that the inducement for 
new members to join will always be the 
same, thereby preserving the life of the 
Order by taking in younger members who 
have the advantage of paying assessments 
at their own ages, but who are not com- 
pelled to carry the burden of older members, 
as each bears his equitable proportion of 
the actual cost. 

The National Union is patriotic in char- 
acter, and the American flag appears in its 
ritualistic work. The government of the 
Order is modelled after that of the United 
States, its Supreme body being called a 
Senate, to which representatives are elected 
by the different State Assemblies or Legis- 
latures. Eepresentatives to the Assemblies 
are elected, in turn, by delegates from the 
different Councils in the various States. 
The Order thus has a Senate, Assemblies, 
and Councils, or Lodges, the latter being 
subordinate bodies. The principal emblem 
is a badge representing a shield. A lapel 
button is also worn, which, like the shield, 
displays the national colors. 

The membership has steadily progressed, 
but not phenomenally, and in personnel 
is unexceptionable, comprising business and 



NEW ENGLAND ORDER OF PROTECTION 



169 



jarofessional men of high character as well 
as those in the humbler walks of life. The 
Order has Councils established in the follow- 
ing States : Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, 
California, Colorado, District of Columbia, 
Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, 
Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, 
Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, 
New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, 
New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, 
Texas, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, West 
Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin. At 
the close of 1896 there were 48,000 mem- 
bers, and at that time there had been paid 
to beneficiaries the sum of $7,500,000. 

The table of rates of assessments in the 
National Union is given in full, owing to 
the system constituting a marked step in 
advance in the history of the development 
of fraternal assessment societies. 

TABLE OF ASSESSMENT RATES PER $1,000. 

[Increased on all members every year, thus avoiding increas- 
ing frequency of assessments.] 





Cost of 




Cost of 




Cost of 


Cost of 


Age. 


each 


Age. 


each 


Age. 


each 


Age. 


each 




Assess. 




Assess. 




Assess. 


- 




20.. 


..$0 40 


32. 


..SO 64 


44... 


. $0 96 


56 .. 




21.. 


.. 42 


33. 


.. 66 


45... 


. 1 00 


57... 


1 08 


82.. 


.. 44 


34. 


. 68 


40... 


. 1 04 


58... 


1 78 


23.. 


.. 46 


35. 


.. 70 


47... 


. 1 08 


59... 


i Be 


24.. 


.. 48 


36. 


.. 72 


48... 


. 1 12 


60... 


•J IK) 


25.. 


.. 50 


37. 


.. 74 


49... 


. 1 16 


61 . . . 


2 12 


20.. 


.. 52 




70 


*50... 


. 1 20 




2 26 


27.. 


.. 54 


39. 


.. 78 


51... 


. 1 26 


03... 


2 40 


28 . 


56 


40. 


. . 80 


52 . . . 


. 1 32 


6-1... 


2 60 


29.. 


.. 58 


41. 


... 84 


53... 


. 1 38 


+65... 




30.. 


.. 00 


42. 


.. 88 


54... 


. 1 44 






31.. 


.. 62 


43. 


92 


55... 


. 1 50 







*The maximum age of admission is fifty years. 
+Age at which assessments cease to increase. 



No certificates are issued to persons over 
forty years of age for more than $3,000. 
Not more than ten assessments in one year 
have ever been levied by the National Union 
under this system in the sixteen years of its 
existence. The Order is prosperous, pays 
its losses promptly, and is recognized as a 
beneficiary fraternity of high standing. 

Native Sons of the Golden West. — 
Founded July 11, 1875, by General A. M. 
Winn and others, at San Francisco, for the 
})avment of sick and death benefits. Mem- 
bership is restricted to citizens of California, 



and among its 9,500 members are many of 
the foremost representatives of the State. 
New England Order of Protection. — 

Organized on October 28, 1887, and incor- 
porated under the laws of Massachusetts, 
November 12, 1887. The New England 
Order of Protection is one of that vast num- 
ber of fraternal beneficiary societies which 
within the last thirty years has brought hope 
to the heart of man by emphasizing brother- 
hood and by caring for the widowed and the 
fatherless. The founders were William H. 
Martin, H. M. Wentworth, Edward L. 
Noyes, T. F. Boylen, Charles P. Walker, 
William M. Bartlett, B. M. Snow, Samuel 
B. Logan, George H. Howard, B. B. Law- 
rence, Granville Cash, A. F. Boylen, Charles 
H. Burr, Fred L. Pool, and E. L. Noyes; 
to which are added, as life members of the 
Supreme Lodge, Samuel P. Tenney, John 
J. Whipple, William B. Adams, Albert C. 
Loom is, Levi W. Shaw, John K. Thomp- 
son, Norman M. Stafford, Milon 0. Cluff, 
Charles E. Reed, Eben S. Hinckley, Wil- 
liam E. Elliott, Charles H. Thomas, Henry 
F. Burrill, James H. Swallow, James H. 
Puss, Daniel M. Frye, Salmon A. Granger, 
Herbert A. Chase, M.D., Leonora M. Mar- 
tin, John A. Follet, Mary C. Noyes, Mary 
L. Walker, Sarah 0. Hinckley, Emma F. 
Boylen, Hannah J. Tenney, Helen M. Whip- 
ple, Adam W. Martin, Sarah F. Boylen, 
Maggie Wentworth, Eliza Cash, J. E. Lo- 
gan, Mary J. Campbell, Clara J. Bartlett, 
Catherine A. Thomas, Margarette Shaw, 
Percy A. Dame, Daniel E. Frasier, Mrs. 
Daniel E. Frasier, Leonora F. Lathe, and 
Kate D. Chase. The founders were mem- 
bers of the Knights of Honor, United Order 
of Pilgrim Fathers, L^nited Order of the 
Golden Cross, Order of United Friends, 
Royal Society of Good Fellows, the Royal 
Arcanum, Ancient Order of United Work- 
men, Knights and Ladies of Honor, Inde- 
pendent Order of Odd Fellows, Improved 
Order of Red Men, Knights of Pythias, and 
the Masonic Fraternity. It may be said to 
be an outcome of the Knights and Ladies of 



170 



NORTH AMERICAN UNION 



Honor on the question of separate juris- 
diction which arose in that Order. At the 
Supreme Lodge of the Knights and Ladies 
of Honor, in Philadelphia, September 14, 

1887, the petition of twenty-one New Eng- 
land Lodges, with over 1,300 members, for a 
New England jurisdiction was referred to 
the committee on the state of the order. 
A majority of that committee reported in 
favor of the petition, and a minority ad- 
versely; but the minority report was adopted. 
Inspired by the success of the Ancient Order 
of United Workmen under a separate New 
England jurisdiction, those who had agitated 
the question were confident that an order 
confined within the Jimits of the six New 
England States could be made successful, 
and one month later the new society was 
formed. Its objects are to unite fraternally 
all white persons of good moral character 
and steady habits; to provide for and com- 
fort the sick; to establish relief and benefit 
funds from which, upon satisfactory proof 
of the death of a beneficiary member, a sum 
not exceeding $3,000 shall be paid to his 
or her family as directed by the member. 
The first Lodge was instituted November 
17, 1887, with 46 members. On April 30, 

1888, the total membership was 2,117; on 
April 30, 1889, it amounted to 6,213; on 
April 1, 1892, to 11,949; on April 1, 1894, 
to 15,656; on April 1, 1896, to 19,722, and 
on January 1, 1897, to 21,122. The Order 
on January 1, 1897, carried $37,812,000 
protection, and had paid out $1,311,000. It 
pays $1,000, $2,000, and $3,000 benefits, and 
is conducted on the graded assessment plan, 
with an increase in the rate of assessment, as 
shown in the following table: 





1st 


2d 


3d 


Between the 


Rate 


Rate 


Rate 


Ages. 


$1,000 


$2,000 


$3,000 


18 and 25 


30 


60 


90 


25 " 30 


35 


70 


1 05 


30 " 35 


40 


80 


1 20 


35 " 40 


45 


90 


1 35 


40 " 45 


50 


1 00 


1 50 


45 " 46 


55 


1 10 


1 65 


46 " 47 


60 


1 20 


1 80 


47 " 48 


65 


1 30 


1 95 


48 " 49 


70 


1 40 


2 10 


49 " 50 


75 


1 50 


2 25 



Subordinate Lodges are under the imme- 
diate control of a Grand Lodge, Past War- 
dens of subordinate Lodges being members 
of Grand Lodges. The Supreme Lodge is 
composed of officers, standing commitee, all 
Past Supreme Wardens, incorporators of the 
Supreme Lodge named in the original certifi- 
cate of incorporation, and such others as 
were elected previous to the session of 1888, 
and representatives of Grand Lodges, elected 
annually to serve for two years. Each 
Grand Lodge has three representatives and 
three alternates for the first 1,000 members 
in the State, and one for each additional 
1,000 and majority fraction thereof. The 
Supreme Lodge meets annually, on the sec- 
ond Tuesday in May, in the city of Boston, 
and as it is the legislative body, only bene- 
ficiary members are admitted. Both men and 
women have a voice and vote in subordinate, 
Grand, and Supreme bodies, and are eligible 
to any office. The membership by States 
November 1, 1896, was as follows: 

Men. Women. Totals. 

Maine 1,059 2,033 3,092 

New Hampshire. . . . 278 425 703 

Vermont 202 ' 726 928 

Massachusetts 3,394 6.576 9,970 

Rhode Island 205 600 805 

Connecticut 1,400 4,153 5,553 

Totals 6,538 14,513 21,051 

The Order has been unusually successful. 
It paid its first death benefit of $1,000 at 
the end of the first five months of its exist- 
ence, when the membership was only 2,117. 
Within less than ten years it has made a 
record of which any similar Order might be 
proud, and the six-pointed star, the jewel 
of the society, is honored alike by its own 
and by members of other fraternities. 

North American Union. — A new fra- 
ternal beneficiary association, organized at 
Chicago. 

Northwestern Legion of Honor. — A 
benevolent fraternity formed to furnish 
members with life insurance at cost, to 
which all acceptable white persons between 
eighteen and fifty years of age, whose occu- 
pation is not extra hazardous, are eligible. 



ORDER OF CHOSEN FRIENDS 



171 



It does business in Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, 
Minnesota, North and South Dakota, and 
was incorporated March 12, 1884, in the 
State of Iowa. It is governed by a G-rand 
Council composed of its officers and repre- 
sentatives from subordinate Councils, thus 
avoiding, like the Iowa Legion of Honor, 
much of the machinery of many similar or- 
ganizations. It issues beneficiary certificates 
to men and women members alike for $500, 
$1,000, $2,000, or $3,000 each. Assess- 
ments are graded according to age, one-fifth 
of each assessment going into the reserve 
fund from which losses are to be met in case 
of epidemics or other causes of increase in 
the death rate. This Order frankly admits 
it is an offspring of the American Legion of 
Honor. Its ritual teaches benevolence. 
The total membership is about 2,500. The 
emblem of the Order is the six-pointed star, 
with the abbreviations of the names of the 
States in the angles ; the motto, " We 
work together," in the centre, surrounding 
"N. W. L. of IL," the whole overhung 
with an encircling chain of seven links. 
(See American Legion of Honor.) 

Order of Alfredians. — Dormant. Ac- 
tive at Boston, Providence, and elsewhere 
in New England more than twenty years 
ago. It embodied beneficiary features, but 
was founded for the "descendants of the 
wise and good King Alfred. " It commemo- 
rated April 23d, because on that day in 871 
Alfred ascended the throne, and also because 
Shakespeare was born on April 23d, "'the 
poet of all time, the embalmer of the 
Anglo-Saxon tongue." 

Order of American Fraternal Circle. 
— A Baltimore mutual assessment organiza- 
tion, founded prior to 1889. It died in 1894. 

Order of Amitie. — A Philadelphia mu- 
tual assessment insurance society. Died in 
1894. 

Order of Chosen Friends. — A frater- 
nal, benevolent, and protective society, or- 
ganized under the laws of the State of In- 
diana. It was established May 28, 1879, at 
Indianapolis, Ind., and has now over 600 



Councils and 26,000 members in the United 
States and Canada. It makes provisions 
for payment, in addition to sick and death 
benefits, one to aged members, and also one 
to those who become totally disabled by rea- 
son of disease or accident. Its objects are 
to unite, fraternally, acceptable white per- 
sons of good character, steady habits, sound 
bodily health, and reputable calling, who 
believe in a Supreme Being; to improve 
their condition morally, socially, and mate- 
rially by timely counsel and instructive 
lessons, encouragement in business, and 
assistance to obtain emplojTuent when in 
need; to establish a relief fund from which 
a sum not exceeding $3,000 shall be paid, 
first, when disabled by old age (provided 
seventy-five years are reached); second, 
when by disease or accident a member be- 
comes permanently disabled; and, third, 
when a member dies. The Supreme Coun- 
cil makes all laws for the government of 
the Order, and has entire management of 
the relief fund. Beneficiary membership is 
optional. A medical examination is re- 
quired before an applicant can become a 
beneficiary member. Certificates are issued 
for $500, $1,000, $2,000, or $3,000 as de- 
sired, subject to the approval of the super- 
vising medical examiner. 

Beneficiary members are required to pay 
into the relief fund at deaths of members 
sums graded according to age. By the 
equalization plan of paying assessments all 
members "pay an equal amount for an 
equal benefit." The member who lives out 
his expectancy of life, or passes his seventy- 
fifth birthday, "pays no more for his one- 
thousand-dollar benefit than the member 
who is so unfortunate as to die within a 
short time after acquiring membership." 
This plan "in this respect is unique." It 
makes the cost a fixed sum for each $1,000. 
Where this is not done, the cost would be 
uncertain and assessments frequently come 
so often as to be burdensome. In the early 
part of February, 1878, Albert Alcon and 
T. B. Linn, residents of Indianapolis, Ind., 



172 



ORDER OF CHOSEN FRIENDS 



and members of several fraternal orders, 
were discussing the merits and demerits of 
the societies to which they belonged. At 
that time there were a number of organiza- 
tions paying death benefits, but none paying 
disability or old age benefits to members 
through a national organization. It was 
believed that there was not only room, but 
a demand, for an order with that feature. 
They solicited friends to unite with them, 
and received half-way promises from some 
and refusals from others; but a meeting was 
called May 2, 1878, and another on June 
1st, at which there were four persons pres- 
ent, among them J. B. Nickerson. A third 
meeting, June 8th, brought in Emi Ken- 
nedy. During the summer and fall of 1878 
Messrs. Alcon, Linn, Nickerson, and Ken- 
nedy held many meetings and perfected a 
plan, constitution, and laws for the new 
Order. Mr. Linn acted as Secretary, and 
upon him devolved the labor of formulat- 
ing the ideas agreed to. The admission of 
ladies to the Order was a subject of frequent 
and prolonged discussion, but finally it was 
decided to admit them on the same terms 
and in the same manner as men. Up to 
that date a few orders had established a 
women's degree, or branch, into which the 
wives, mothers, sisters, and daughters of 
members could be admitted; but the Order 
of Chosen Friends claims the honor of lead- 
ing in recognizing the full cooperation of 
woman in the fraternal insurance world. 
The selection of the ritualistic work gave 
the founders much thought and study. The 
perfect number ''seven" was selected as 
the central idea, and Mr. Linn was chosen 
to write the ritual. He perfected the plan 
and composed the charges. At that time, 
November, 1878, Eev. Dr. T. G. Beharrell, 
a minister of the Methodist Church, and 
well known in Masonic and Odd Fellows' 
circles, became interested in the movement, 
and to him was assigned the revision and 
completion of the ritual. To be in harmony 
with the central idea of the ritual, the 
"chain of seven links" was selected as the 



leading emblem. By May 28, 1879, the 
Order of Chosen Friends was declared an 
established fact, with twenty-three charter 
members on its rolls. The first set of offi- 
cers and members is as follows: Supreme 
Councillor, Rev. Dr. T. G. Beharrell, In- 
dianapolis, Ind. ; Supreme Assistant Coun- 
cillor, Albert Alcon, Sheridan, Ind.; Su- 
preme Vice-Councillor, Emi Kennedy; Su- 
preme Eecorder, T. B. Linn; Supreme 
Treasurer, W. W. Douglass; Supreme Medi- 
cal Examiner, Charles D. Pearson, M.D., all 
of Indianapolis; Supreme Prelate, Hon. Wil- 
liam Cumback, Greensburg, Ind. ; Supreme 
Marshal, C. Bradford; Supreme Warden, 
J. B. Mckerson, both of Indianapolis; Su- 
preme Guard, C. H. Buttner, Cleveland, 0. ; 
and Supreme Sentry, M. C. Davis, Indian- 
apolis, Ind. ; Supreme Trustees, W. H. 
Page, Hon. J. F. Wallick, Hon. John 
Cavin, G. H. Webber, and B. F. Eogers, 
all of Indianapolis. Other original mem- 
bers were Joseph Greenwood, M. D. Losey, 
William H. Partlow, Hamilton McCoy, F. D. 
Somerby, 0. S. Hadley, and C. H. Behar- 
rell, all of Indianapolis. 

On June 30, 1879, the first subordinate 
Council, Alpha, No. 1, of Indiana, was or- 
ganized at Indianapolis with 30 charter 
members present. Ohio Council, No. 1, of 
Ohio, was instituted July 15, 1879, at Woos- 
ter, with 24 charter members present; and 
Lincoln Council, No. 2, of Ohio, at Cleve- 
land, October 8, 1879, with 34 present. At 
the first annual session of the Supreme 
Council, held in Indianapolis, October 21, 
1879, the Supreme Eecorder reported three 
Councils with a membership of 150. A 
year later this had grown to 60 Councils 
and 3,536 members in eleven States. The 
Order rapidly increased during the follow- 
ing year, numbering 10,133 members in 176 
Councils located in 24 States, at the end of 
the fiscal year closing June 30, 1881. This 
had further increased to 12,392 members 
and 221 Councils by September 30th, when 
a season full- of troubles followed. A dis- 
sension arose among the members of the 



ORDER OF CHOSEN FRIENDS 



173 



Grand Council of California, resulting in 
schism, by which the Order lost about 3,000 
members. The superintendent of insur- 
ance in the State of Xew York attempted to 
rule the Order out of that State on account 
of its old age disability features, going so 
far as to threaten with arrest and imprison- 
ment officers and members if they did not 
cease working in Xew York. The Order 
appealed to the courts, and after a pro- 
longed and bitter contest was sustained in 
its position — viz., that it was legally doing 
business in Xew York. The situation there 
called attention to other States, and it was 
found that some of them made no provi- 
sions for the payment of disability benefits 
by a fraternal society, and such defects had 
to be remedied through the legislatures of 
such States. These contests caused a loss 
of 7,001 members during the fiscal year 
ending June, 30, 1882 ; but 8,126 new 
members were added, making a net gain 
for the year of 925. The following years 
were in the main prosperous, and the Order, 
after sixteen years of experience, had on 
June 30, 1895, a membership of 38,095, and 
had paid to beneficiaries of 4,789 dead mem- 
bers $8,839,704; to 613 disabled members, 
8562,980; to 16 members disabled by old 
age, $32,000; and 45 advance or immediate 
payments to beneficiaries of dead members 
whose claims were in process of adjustment, 
813,700; in all, 89,448,383. The Order is 
eighteen and a half years old, has paid 
810,209,513 to the beneficiaries of 5,5T9 
of its members who have died; 8620,780 to 
734 members who became permanently dis- 
abled from earning a livelihood; and 8116,- 
872 to 61 members disabled by the burden 
of old age, a total of 810,947,165. It has 
Councils in Arizona, California, Colorado, 
Connecticut, District of Columbia, Georgia, 
Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Mary- 
land, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Mon- 
tana, Nebraska, Xew Jersey, Xew York, 
Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Ontario, Ore- 
gon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South 
Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Wash- 



ington, and Wisconsin, thirty-one States, 
and in Canada. 

Most of the original members were mem- 
bers of various leading fraternal beneficiary 
secret societies, and some were prominent 
Odd Fellows and Freemasons. It is par- 
ticularly noteworthy that several of the lat- 
ter were members of the higher degrees in 
Scottish Eite Masonry. The princij^al em- 
blem, a seven-pointed star containing the 
primary colors in the angles, with two in- 
scribed triangles containing the figure 7 
in the centre, is esjDecially significant and 
points to the popularity of the mysticism 
hedging about these particular symbols 
among modern ritual makers. The stu- 
dent who is also a Scottish Eite Mason will 
find something in this to interest him when 
considered in connection with the historical 
sketch of the Order of the Heptasophs, or 
Seven Wise Men. Members of the latter 
organization and of the Order of Chosen 
Friends have practically identical emblems. 
In addition to the foregoing the Chosen 
Friends present the clasped hands, a seven- 
linked chain, and a representation of the 
Good Samaritan. The Order is also note- 
worthy for having given birth to five similar 
organizations, the results of disaffection and 
schism. The first was the secession in Xew 
York State, which caused a good deal of feel- 
ing. The trouble between the insurance 
department of the State of Xew York and 
v the Order of Chosen Friends has already 
been referred to. The result was the for- 
mation of the Order of United Friends in 
Xew York in 1881. The Chosen Friends 
in California demanded a separate jurisdic- 
tion in 1882, and it was denied, whereupon 
they seceded and formed the Independent 
Order of Chosen Friends. It flourished for 
a few years and attained a membership of 
7,000 or 8,000, when it collapsed. The 
United Friends of Michigan was organized 
in 1889, shortly after the meeting of the 
Supreme Council of the Order of Chosen 
Friends in that year, at which the repre- 
sentative of the Supreme Council from 



174 



ORDER OF FRATERNAL HELPERS 



Michigan failed to secure the recognition 
he believed himself entitled to. It was or- 
ganized by Dr. G. A. Kirker of Detroit, 
and E. F. Lamb of Mt. Morris, Mich., and 
has grown and prospered. In the years 1891 
and 1892 the Order had some difficulty with 
the laws in the Province of Ontario. It was 
believed by some members there that a sepa- 
rate jurisdiction would remedy the matter, 
but before it could be accomplished a schism 
occurred, and the Canadian Order of Chosen 
Friends was organized. In 1895, immedi- 
ately after the passage of the Morse equaliza- 
tion laws, a disappointed aspirant for office 
headed a division of the German members 
in Chicago, and formed a new organization, 
called the United League of America. 
Whether the movement was a success or 
not is not known. 

Order of Fraternal Helpers. — One of 
the numerous local mutual assessment in- 
surance Orders founded in New England. 
Letters of inquiry returned unopened. 

Order of Fraternal Preceptors. — Mu- 
tual assessment, beneficiary society, organized 
at Grand Haven, Mich., prior to 1889. Un- 
known there now. 

Order of Mutual Aid. — Formed at 
Memphis, Tenn., where it collapsed a few 
years later, in 1878, owing to the ravages of 
the yellow fever epidemic. It was a South- 
ern oifshoot of the Ancient Order of United 
Workmen and of the Knights of Honor. Its 
only surviving offspring is the Knights of 
the Golden Eule, organized at Cincinnati in 
1879. (See Knights of the Golden Rule.) 

Order of Mutual Protection. — Organ- 
ized at St. Louis in 1878, an outgrowth of 
the Order of Mutual Aid, and incorporated 
under the laws of the State of Missouri. 
Men and women between eighteen and fifty 
years of age, in good health, not engaged in 
hazardous occupations, are eligible to mem- 
bership. Members enjoy the social privi- 
leges of Lodge rooms, the moral and social 
advancement, and the encouragement in 
business to which they are entitled under 
the " laws and bonds of mutual assistance." 



Death benefit certificates of $500, $1,000, and 
$2,000 are issued, except to women and to 
saloon keepers, who are restricted to $1,000. 
At total disability a member is entitled to 
one-half the amount of his or her certificate, 
and on reaching the age of seventy years, 
the whole amount. Sick benefits are paid 
in the discretion of subordinate Lodges. No 
Lodges are established in the Southern States, 
excepting the two Virginias, Maryland, in 
Kentucky, and in the District of Columbia. 
The government of the Order is vested in 
a Supreme Lodge composed of representa- 
tives of subordinate Lodges. Total mem- 
bership amounts to about 5,000, and about 
$600,000 has been paid in sick, disability, 
and death benefits. The ritual embodies 
features found in the secret work of many 
similar organizations. The office of the Su- 
preme Secretary is at Chicago. 

Order of Mognllians. — A "side de- 
gree" of the Ancient Order of United 
Workmen. (See the latter.) 

Order of Odd Ladies. — A New Eng- 
land mutual benefit, assessment society mani- 
festly named in imitation of the Odd Fellows. 
No replies have been received to inquiries. 

Order of Protestant Knights. — De- 
scribed in the census of 1890 as a mutual 
assessment beneficiary organization, with the 
office of the Secretary at Buffalo, N. Y. 
Not known there now. 

Order of Shepherds of Bethlehem. — 
Organized "in America," November 19, 
1896, by Ira A. M. Wycoff, at Trenton, 
N. J., a sick and funeral benefit association 
to which men and women between eighteen 
and fifty-five years of age are eligible. Its 
membership is about 2,000. The Order is 
evidently drawn from the same source as the 
Order of the Star of Bethlehem, an outline 
of which is given in connection herewith. 
Compare the latter with the following ex- 
tract from the " History of the Order of the 
Shepherds of Bethlehem": 

In 1875 a prominent officer named Sir Fred Holt 
came to New York and started two Lodges, which 
grew nicely until Sir Holt's duties as Scribe of the 



ORDER OF THE GOLDEN CHAIN 



175 



Sovereign Lodge called him to Europe, when they 
quarrelled, and under a strange name ran on for a 
time, and died out, with the exception of a few small 
Western Lodges that had their start from them and 
drifted into another small Order not connected with 
this.* The effort was ill-advised, with no good re- 
sults. T«he next person who took up the matter was 
a popular antiquarian who went to the Holy Land 
to study the Order among the shepherds as it origi- 
nally existed and is now in the home of these 
ancient people of the Holy Land. He learned all 
the old legends and methods of the Order, and on 
his return presented the Order in the thoroughly 
original form, translated and put in modern shape. 
By special arrangement the Supreme Lodge of 
North America was formed in 1896, and instructed 
in the beautiful ceremonies of this old and won- 
drous Order. The Supreme Lodge of North Amer- 
ica, by authority of the Sovereign Lodge, is supreme 
authority in North America. 

There are marked similarities between the 
two Orders of Bethlehemites, notably the 
provision that membership does not lapse in 
either for non-payment of clues, except so 
far as the right to share in benefits is con- 
cerned, and the custom of addressing mem- 
bers by the titles Sir and Lady. The rit- 
ualistic ceremonies of the Shepherds of 
Bethlehem are declared to be beautiful and 
elevating. The first degree is entitled that 
of Light, the second the Shepherd's, and the 
third the Disciple's degree. (Compare with 
Ancient Order of Shepherds, Order of the 
Star of Bethlehem, and Shepherds of Amer- 
ica.) When one reads in the leaflets of these 
Bethlehemite Orders that each "is without 
a doubt one of the oldest in the world, and 
was founded as an Order shortly after the 
birth of Christ, by the shepherds who 
watched over their flocks on that eventful 
night, when they were first chosen of God 
to hear of the birth of our Saviour and went 
at once to see and worship him," he is com- 
pelled to wonder at the audacity of the 
genealogist who constructed the society's 
family tree. 

Order of Sparta. — Organized by J. B. 
Moffitt, Robert A. Welsh, James McConnell, 
Alexander J. McCleary, and William H. 

* Order of the Star of Bethlehem ? 



Smith, all of Philadelphia, in 1879, as a 
mutual assessment, death benefit society. 
Its field is restricted to within one hundred 
miles of Philadelphia. The founders were 
all members of the Ancient Order of United 
Workmen, who sought to establish a com- 
pact secret society with the one-dollar assess- 
ment of the Ancient Order of United Work- 
men. They confined membership to men 
between twenty-one and fifty years of age, 
of good physical health, "believers in the 
Christian faith.'' Its ritual is founded on 
the history of ancient Sparta, thus parallel- 
ing the English Order of Ancient Eomans 
in its search for a new source for its rites 
and ceremonies, and the (American) Order 
of Heptasophs, or Seven Wise Men. The 
Order is managed conservatively, and has 
an invested permanent fund with which to 
pay the assessments of those who may re- 
tain their membership twenty-five years, 
and a relief fund with which to pay the 
assessments of members who through sick- 
ness or financial disability may be unable 
to pay them. This is done to keep worthy 
distressed members in good standing, and is 
accomplished "without the general knowl- 
edge of the organization." The total 
amount of benefits paid exceeds $1,000,000. 
The Order is governed by a Great Senate 
which exercises jurisdiction over the subordi- 
nate Senates. Its 7,000 members are drawn 
largely from the mercantile and professional 
walks of life, although nearly all trades are 
represented. The seat of the Great Senate 
contains a representation of a shield upon 
which is a sword and the words, "With it 
or upon it." 

Order of the Black Knight. — A Ger- 
man (Deutscher Orden Schwarze Ritter) 
secret, benevolent society. It claims an 
existence here of about thirty years. Its 
strength is principally in New Jersey, Penn- 
sylvania, New York, and District of Colum- 
bia. Like some other German Orders, it 
claims great antiquity. 

Order of the Grolden Chain. — Organ- 
ized at Baltimore, December 22, 1881, by 



176 



ORDER OF THE HEPTASOPHS, OR SEVEN WISE MEN 



members of the Knights of Honor, Eoyal 
Arcanum, American Legion of Honor, and 
the Masonic Fraternity, as a mutual assess- 
ment beneficiary society to which men be- 
tween twenty-one and fifty-one years of age 
are eligible. It insures the lives of mem- 
bers for $1,000, $2,000, or $3,000, besides 
which it pays sick and total disability bene- 
fits. It employs the popular step-rate 
graded system of assessments, and enjoys 
the enviable record of having paid out more 
than $1,600,000 to beneficiaries since organ- 
ization at an average annual cost to those 
insured of about $8 per $1,000. The total 
membership is about 11,000, and is steadily 
increasing. The ritual seeks to exemplify 
the meaning of the golden chain of friend- 
ship, which, represented by twelve links of 
a chain surrounding a monogram composed 
of the letters O. G. C. and the motto of the 
Order in Greek, constitute the emblem of 
the society. The Order is incorporated 
under the laws of the State of Maryland, 
with its headquarters at Baltimore, and is a 
worthy sister of similar organizations which 
have had their origin in that city. 

Order of tlie Heptasophs, or Seven 
Wise Men. — This is one of the oldest 
benevolent, secret organizations in the 
country, and possesses the attractively mys- 
tical title of the Order of the Heptasophs, 
or Seven Wise Men. It is far from being 
among the larger societies with similar 
aims, numbering only about 4,000 mem- 
bers in eighteen States. This is all the 
more curious when one recalls that it is 
nearly half a century old, and possesses an 
elaborate and exceptionally beautiful ritual, 
based upon some of the ancient mysticism 
which, in part, had remained unappropri- 
ated by older and better known secret 
societies. The organization was originally 
called The Seven Wise Men, but the title 
was changed to its present form, because 
of ' e the higher excellence " impressed upon 
its ritual "by the Hellenic mind," the 
term " Heptasophs " being derived from the 
Greek Hepta, seven, and Sophos, wise. The 



Order gives no adherence to any religious 
creed, but requires from its candidates the 
profession of a belief in a Supreme Being. 
It bears aloft the motto, "In God We Trust," 
admitting to its mysteries both the Jew 
and the Christian on the common ground of 
mutual dependence and universal brother- 
hood under the Fatherhood of God. To 
this end it inculcates the principles of 
"Wisdom, Truth, and Benevolence." The 
earlier official history of the Order, as may 
have been anticipated, carried the inspira- 
tion of the society back to the Persian 
Magi, or Seven Wise Men, the initials of 
the original title being given in this form, 
S. *. W. M. •., the missing letters being 
represented by seven dots. In the precise 
form in which the Order "now exists in 
America," strict succession in ritual, for- 
mulae, etc., from the Persian Magi was not 
claimed. " In the transfer from Persia to 
Greece, from Greece to Eome, from Eome 
to Britain and to the Western world, it was 
admitted that certain changes had doubt- 
less been made in the course of adaptation 
to races, times, civilizations, and forms of 
government ; " but its legends, traditions, 
and teachings were claimed to be "as true 
to the ancient type as are those of its sister 
societies to their venerable predecessors." 
The original story ran, that the Order of 
the Seven Wise Men was " introduced into 
the United States" at New Orleans, La., 
April 6, 1852 ; that in June of that year 
the Grand Conclave of Louisiana was or- 
ganized, and that in 1854 it was incorpo- 
rated. It was not stated whence the Order 
came, or who brought, it to New Orleans. 
The society was, however, established at the 
Crescent City, and a Supreme Conclave was 
organized in 1857, in which year the latter 
was said to have held its first " communi- 
cation." This body was and is the Su- 
preme legislative and governing authority 
of the Order. The admission in printed 
proceedings that the Supreme Conclave 
established the " ritual, regalia, and work- 
ing paraphernalia now in use," evidently 



ORDER OF THE HEPTASOPHS, OR SEVEN WISE MEN 



177 



appealed to later chroniclers, for they have 
since admitted that the Order " had its 
origin in the city of New Orleans." When 
one recalls the period of Jewish history 
which led up to and witnessed the comple- 
tion and dedication of King Solomon's tem- 
ple, with which the Fraternity of Free and 
Accepted Masons link so many of their tra- 
ditions ; the story of David and Jonathan, 
concerning which the ritual of Odd Fel- 
lowship has much to say ; the friendship 
of Damon and Pythias, which is so closely 
identified with the ceremonials of the 
Knights of Pythias ; the legends of Eobin 
Hood and his Merrie Men, which have been 
appropriated by the Foresters ; the man- 
ners and customs of the American Indians, 
which are being preserved by the Improved 
Order of Red Men ; and the struggles by 
the various Orders of ancient Knighthood to 
preserve the Holy Land from defilement at 
the hand of the Infidel, which have given us 
the Masonic Knights Templars, and various 
other secret Orders of Knighthood ; when 
one contemplates not only this vast amount 
of material in the hands of modern secret 
society ritualists, but the use of Druidic 
lore by modern Orders of Druids, legends 
of ancient Shepherdry by existing secret 
societies of shepherds, the symbols of wood- 
craft by Modern Woodmen, and of other 
and like quarrying for material on which 
to build fraternal and beneficiary secret 
organizations, then the antiquity, the ap- 
propriateness, the beauty, and the mystical 
character of the groundwork of the ritual 
of the Order of the Heptasophs challenges 
attention. The Heptasophs declared that 
" the earliest traces of the Order defy 
chronology, reaching far back into the 
twilight of legend and tradition clustering 
about the Magi of the East, which ante- 
date the Druids of Gaul and Britain, and 
probably the Masons who existed in Judea." 
The first alleged "authentic history" of 
the Seven Wise Men is so ingenious and in- 
teresting as to merit a permanent record. 
It takes the Order back to the period 1104 
12 



B.C., and couples it with the name of the 
first Zoroaster, who is said to have been the 
head of the Magi of Persia at that time. 

From these Magi, Persian kings had to receive 
instructions in the art of reigning and in worship 
before they could come to the throne, and from the 
most illustrious of their numbers the king had to 
select six wise men as counsellors, who, together 
with the monarch, constituted the celebrated coun- 
cil of seven. In a subterranean cavern, beneath 
the royal palace at Ispahan, the capital of Persia, 
was the only spot where it was lawful to impart the 
most occult mysteries of the seven, and to which 
the heir of the throne was only admitted for merit 
. and not of right. For many centuries the philoso- 
phy of the Seven Wise Men formed the basis of the 
polity of the Persian dynasty, and without whose 
advice the king on the throne determined no im- 
portant matter. As one among many evidences of 
this, we refer to the language of Feridon (200 years 
B.C.), who, under the advice and guidance of the 
seven, after twenty years of exile with them, suc- 
cessfully revolted against Zohak, the usurper, and 
came in triumph to the throne of his fathers. He 
said (referring to the S.\ W. M.\) : "Have they 
not for centuries been the advisers and counsellors 
of the mighty rulers of this spacious realm ?" 
Firdisi, the eminent Persian historian, records that 
in the time of the illustrious King Kayomers, who 
reigned 900 years before Christ, the council of 
seven were styled by the grateful people " the 
earliest distributors of justice.'' On his deathbed 
this great ruler exhorted his son and heir to the 
throne to adhere to the teachings of the Seven Wise 
Men, which was religiously done by him and his 
sons after him, until the dynasty of the Kayomers 
came to be called Pashdaidans, which means dis- 
tributors of justice. It appears that about a.d. 
G38, Yezdefird, King of Persia, was conquered by 
Mohammed, then styled "Camel Driver of Mecca," 
and with his downfall perished the influence of the 
Seven Wise Men in the national affairs of Persia. 
They, however, left the impress of their philosophy 
and wisdom upon the history of that country run- 
ning through a succession of centuries, rendering 
their kingdom glorious and its subjects happy by 
their devotion to justice and the inculcation of 
Wisdom, Truth, and Benevolence long before the 
brighter and grander glories of Greece dawned. 

This brought the Order down to the 
golden era of Greece, from whence "the 
transfers ... to Rome, from Rome to 
Britain and the Western world " were pre- 
sumed to follow. It might prove interesting 



178 



ORDER OF THE HEPTASOPHS, OR SEVEN WISE MEN 



to speculate on the possibility of the 
mysteries of the Seven Wise Men of old 
having been carried from Eome by means 
of the workingmen's guilds of the early 
and middle ages to England, as an inner 
circle or cult, in the recesses, as it were, 
of ancient craft Masonry, which, some have 
declared, crossed Europe in that manner. 
Be that as it may, the original Seven Wise 
Men in America builded beautifully and 
well from a ritualistic point of view. That 
their ceremonials and ritual did not imbibe 
Freemasonry from Masonic guardians and 
protectors on a secret journey from Persia 
to Greece, through Italy and north to Eng- 
land, but acquired it at New Orleans, where 
the Society was formed, may be accepted 
as a fact.* That it did acquire Masonic 
traditions and symbols is in part shown in 
its seven-pointed star enclosing a seven- 
branched candlestick, the All-Seeing Eye, 
the ark and the altar, its groups of seven, 
the adoption of a three-word motto, and 
other features. Efforts to learn more of 
the origin of the Order than its officials 
could furnish have been fairly successful. 
The early history of modern secret societies 
has too frequently been fragmentary be- 
cause of lack of interest in compiling, or 
care in preserving, records. An examina- 
tion of the " Greek letter," or college 
secret society system, reveals the Mystical 

* In a letter from George W. Wright, Supreme 
Secretary, S.\ W. M.\, November 30, 1896, it is 
stated : " The Order was founded at New Orleans, 
April 6, 1852, by Alexander Leonard Saunders, a 
resident of that city, and prominent Freemasons, 
among the earlier members being ex-governors, 
ex-mayors, etc." In 1855 Mr. Saunders " moved to 
Paducah, Ky., where his son published a newspa- 
per. It was understood that he died in New York 
city in 1869." Members of the Order tell that some 
of its ceremonials are based on Grecian history. 
This impress of "Hellenic influence" is natural 
when a connection between this society and the 
college fraternity world is contemplated. The 
ritual of the Mystical Seven includes strikingly 
original features with traces of Scottish Rite Free- 
masonry, which rank it among the first of such 
productions by American college fraternities. 



Seven as unique among college fraterni- 
ties, in that it was not given a Greek letter 
title. It was organized at Wesleyan Uni- 
versity, Middletown, Gonn., in 1837, by 
Hamilton Brewer, uncle of Judge Brewer 
of the United States Supreme Court, fif- 
teen years prior to the appearance of the 
Seven Wise Men at New Orleans. Its 
chapters were called temples, and named 
after its emblems. The Wesleyan Temple 
was the " Wand ; " that at Emory College, 
Georgia, where it was taken in 1841, was 
" Skull and Bones ; " and that at the Uni- 
versity of Georgia, where it was established 
in 1844, the " Skull." In all, there were 
ten Temples, eight of them in the South, 
two being at colleges in Georgia, and one 
each in Mississippi (1857), Louisiana (1857), 
Tennessee (1867), and Virginia (1867). 
Temples were also placed at two colleges 
in North Carolina as late as 1884. Thus, 
out of eight Southern Temples, two — those 
at Emory College, Oxford, Ga., and the 
University of Georgia, Athens — were es- 
tablished, respectively, eleven and eight 
years prior to the introduction or founding 
of the Seven Wise Men at New Orleans in 
1852. The mother Temple, at Wesleyan, 
became dormant in 1861, but was revived 
some years later as a local senior society. 
With other surviving Temples it united in 
1887 with and became absorbed by the 
widespread college secret society, Beta 
Theta Pi. The significance of this refer- 
ence to the first college secret society to be 
established in the South * is due merely to 
two of its Temples having been placed in 
Georgia some years prior to the establish- 
ment of the Seven Wise Men at New 
Orleans and the strength of the society 
having been largely at the South. Baird, 
the author of "American College Fraterni- 
ties," says of the Mystical Seven : 

The customs of the Fraternity were quaint and 
interesting. Much is made of the number "7," 
and the membership in each Chapter was for many 

*Baird's American College Fraternities, New 
York, 4th edition, p. 60. 



ORDER OF THE HEPTASOPHS, OR SEVEN WISE MEN 



179 



years retained at that figure, or a multiple of it. 
The badge of the Fraternity is a seven-pointed 
star, each point containing a Hebrew letter ; within 
the centre field of the star is displayed a cauldron 
and ladle over a bundle of burning faggots, encir- 
cled by a snake. The color of the Fraternity is 
white, and each Chapter was assigned one of the 
primary colors." 

The conclusion is, therefore, suggested 
that graduate or other members of the 
Mystical Seven, or of the Rainbow Society, 
a college society originating at Oxford, 
Miss., in 1848, and strongly resembling the 
Mystical Seven, were, in whole or in part, 
responsible for the birth of the Seven Wise 
Men, especially when secret and public 
characteristics of the two societies are 
found to have had so much in common. 
Even the Greek letter nomenclature of 
various subordinate bodies is or has been 
similar in both organizations. It was the 
"Zeta" Conclave of the Heptasophs, or 
Seven Wise Men, in Baltimore, from which 
sprung the Improved Order of Heptasophs 
in 1878. It is unnecessary to explain why 
resemblances of the ritual of the Mystical 
Seven (now incorporated within the Beta 
Theta Pi) to that of the Heptasophs, or 
Seven Wise Men, cannot be given at length ; 
but they leave little room for doubt that 
the benevolent, and afterward beneficiary, 
secret society, the Heptasophs or Seven 
Wise Men, of 1852, is an indirect de- 
scendant of the Mystical Seven college fra- 
ternity, founded in 18J37. During the 
period 1830-1840 the birth and growth of 
college and other secret societies were no- 
ticeable, due in part to the reaction which 
followed the anti-Masonic agitation. The 
latter brought before the public, as never 
before, the whole subject of secret societies, 
their ceremonials and objects, with the re- 
sult that much not secret, but which had 
not been discussed out of Lodge rooms, 
found its way into daily papers, almanacs, 
pamphlets, and other publications, late in 
the second and early in the third decade 
of this century. When the storm raised 
by the "good enough Morgan until after 



election " blew over, there was a reaction. 
At Hamilton College, N. Y., in 1832, the 
Alpha Delta Phi was born, one of the first 
of the great college fraternities, and in the 
same year, at Yale College, Skull and 
Bones, the famous local senior society, first 
saw the light ; Psi Upsilon made its ap- 
pearance in 1833, at Union College, stimu- 
lated by a desire to rival Kappa Alpha, 
Sigma Phi, and Delta Phi, which had been 
founded there seven or eight years before, 
after which the Mystical Seven appeared 
at Wesleyan, with a ritual, as explained, 
having distinct Masonic thumb-marks.* 
It was about this period, also, that the 
Ancient Order of Foresters was introduced 
into the United States from England, and 
that the Improved Order of Red Men, of 
distinctly American origin, was revived 
and entered on a career of prolonged pros- 
perity. Coincident with these evidences 
of appropriation of the secret society idea 
by the general public as well as by college 
students, the Freemasons and the Odd 
Fellows were enjoying seasons of renewed 
interest and rapidly increasing member- 
ship. It was on this wave that the Mysti- 
cal Seven floated out to sea, and from it 
undoubtedly arose, substantially as out- 
lined, the Seven Wise Men, afterwards re- 
christened Order of the Heptasophs, or 
Seven Wise Men, the first general secret 
society, so far as learned, to find its origin 
in one of the American college fraternities. 
Several of the larger and better known col- 
lege secret societies have found their inspi- 
ration in, or have been established by Free- 
masons, Odd Fellows, Foresters, and other 
general fraternities ; but the springing of 
the Seven Wise Men from the Mystical 
Seven, which fact is, apparently, known to 
or appreciated by few, if any, of its living 
members, marks the incident as unique 
and warrants the space given it. The 
earlier growth of the Heptasophs, or Seven 

* This could be made plain to any "mystic" 
who is also a Scottish Rite Freemason, S.\ P.-. 
R.\ S.-. 



180 



ORDER OF THE IROQUOIS 



Wise Men, was principally in the Southern 
States, and at the outbreak of the Civil 
War it naturally lost many of its members 
and much of its influence. It had always 
been conservative, and li ttle effort had been 
made to carry it north, east, or west. Its 
ritualistic work now consists of an intro- 
ductory degree, with beautiful scenes and 
impressive ceremonies, designed to teach 
due reverence for the Supreme Archon of 
the Universe and the beauties of a blame- 
less life, which " never fails to make a last- 
ing impression on the initiates," and three 
additional degrees, emblematic of the vicis- 
situdes encountered in pursuing the course 
of duty. To satisfy the modern demand 
for a military feature, a uniformed rank has 
been introduced, but membership in it is 
not compulsory. The life insurance branch 
was established in 1880. It is called the 
endowment rank, and is composed of 
members in good standing who desire to 
join and can pass the medical examination. 
The amount paid beneficiaries is 1300, and 
the total membership is about 1,000. The 
Order has also established what is known as 
the Heptasophian Mutual Benefit Fund, to 
give aid to widows, heirs, or assignees of 
deceased members to the amount of $500, 
the management being in the hands of a 
Board of Directors formed of officers of 
the Supreme Conclave., Wives of members 
are also eligible to membership in the Fund, 
which is met by an assessment of twenty- 
five cents. 

Membership in the Order is limited to 
white men of good moral character, be- 
lievers in a Supreme Being, possessed of 
some known reputable means of support, 
free from any mental or physical infirmity, 
and having sufficient education to sign 
their own applications for membership. 
No person under eighteen years of age can 
be admitted. Each Conclave is allowed to 
determine the maximum age of applicants. 
There is no auxiliary branch for women. 
The organization of the society is similar 
to that of other well-known like societies, 



consisting of Subordinate Conclaves acting 
under charters issued by Grand Conclaves, 
or by the Supreme Conclave when in 
territory where Grand Conclaves have not 
been formed. Grand (State) Conclaves 
are composed of Past Archons (presiding 
and former presiding officers) of subordi- 
nate Conclaves, and the Supreme Conclave is 
made up of Past Grand Archons. After the 
conclusion of the Civil War the Order began 
to grow again, and early in the seventies took 
on something like a rapid increase of mem- 
bership. In 1872 it provided that Conclaves 
might arrange to pay benefits at option. 
Prior to that year the Order had been 
benevolent rather than beneficiary, and its 
membership had remained small. Its total 
of about 4,000 members, within a year or 
two, is the largest in its history. The busi- 
ness depression (1873 to 1879) checked its 
growth, after which a movement gained 
headway in favor of a plan for the general 
payment of death benefits. This excited 
opposition, and a number of brethren of 
Zeta Conclave, Baltimore, becoming dis- 
satisfied with a decision of the Supreme 
Conclave, the result was a schism, a number 
of members leaving in 1878 to found the 
Improved Order of Heptasophs. The an- 
tagonism between the two Orders was con- 
spicuous for a few years, but gradually died 
out. The parent society has continued its 
way conservatively, but, as explained, has 
vindicated the position of some of its former 
members by adopting, in 1880, the system of 
payment of death benefits by means of 
assessments. While its membership is not 
as large as that of its offspring, its paths 
are those of peace, and its prosperity is 
attested by the loyalty of its members. 

Order of the Iroquois. — Organized June 
26, 1896, by some of the representative 
citizens of Buffalo, N. Y., among them Dr. 
Ernest Wende, Health Commissioner ; C. 
Lee Abell ; Walter A. Rice, its Supreme 
Secretary ; D. Clark Ralph, and others, a 
fraternal beneficiary society for men only, 
the ritualistic work of which seeks to 



ORDER OF SELECT FRIENDS 



181 



perpetuate the name and fame of the Iro- 
quois Confederation, so intimately associ- 
ated with the early history of the country. 
What the Improved Order of Red Men have 
done for the Delaware Tribe the Lenni 
Lenape, the Order of the Iroquois seeks 
to do for the Tribe from which it takes 
its name. The society, while distinctly 
patriotic in its teachings, demands no 
religious or political tests from those who 
seek to join it. The prospectus of the 
Order bears upon the title page a cut of the 
noted Indian chief and orator, Red Jacket, 
who was one of the most conspicuous 
figures in the Iroquois Confederation. 
The cut of Red Jacket is also used as the 
design of the Supreme Lodge Seal and for 
gold buttons worn by members. The bene- 
ficiary department presents a plan that is 
easy to understand. Its feature is a table 
of certificates graded according to ages. 
Only men between the ages of twenty and 
fifty-five are admitted to membership. 
The average benefit certificate is $1,500, 
and all members pay regular dues of $1 per 
month, or $12 per annum. 

Another feature is the accumulation of a 
reserve fund for the payment of benefits 
in case of necessity. The name of John 
E. Pound, Past Supreme Regent of the 
Royal Arcanum, is at the head of the 
charter list of the Order of the Iroquois. 
The government of the Order is based 
upon that of local, or subordinate Lodges ; 
State, or Grand Lodges and a national, 
or Supreme Lodge. The first Lodge was 
organized with over one hundred charter 
members, and is known as Red Jacket, 
Xo. 1. In the first eight months the 
Order received over 500 applications for 
membership. 

Order of Red Cross and Knights of 
the Red Cross. — Usually referred to as 
Knights of the Red Cross, founded in 
1879 by members of the Ancient Order of 
United Workmen and other similar so- 
cieties as a fraternal beneficiary organiza- 
tion, having for its fundamental principle, 



charity, and for its motto, " Omnia pro 
Caritate." Its ritual is based on Biblical 
incidents, and from the fact that both men 
and women are admitted as members, it 
may be inferred that its title constitutes 
about all the similarity there is between its 
ritual and rituals of Masonic and other Or- 
ders of the Red Cross. It pays death bene- 
fits and numbers about 7,000 members, most 
of which are residents of central Western 
States. More than $200,000 has been 
paid to beneficiaries since the society w 7 as 
founded. The emblem is as pretentious as 
those of some older and better known 
Orders of the Red Cross, consisting of a 
red Creek cross surmounted by a crown, 
a white five-pointed star in the centre, with 
the motto of the Order on a blue band en- 
circling it. The similarity between this 
design and the emblem of the Order of the 
Golden Cross, a like organization, founded 
by Freemasons in 1876, is suggestive, but 
no particulars are at hand to show a direct 
relationship. 

Order of Select Friends. — One of the 
several fraternal beneficiary Orders of 
" Friends/' inspired, directly or otherwise, 
by the Order of Chosen Friends. It was 
organized in Kansas in 1888 and incor- 
.porated under the laws of that State, to do 
a fraternal insurance business in all States, 
except those subject to yellow fever epi- 
demic. It issues death benefit certificates 
for 81,000, 82,000, or $3,000 ; pays sick, 
disability, and old age benefits ; and admits 
men and women between eighteen and fifty 
years of age to membership on equal terms. 
Followers of certain extra hazardous occu- 
pations are not eligible to membership.. 
Subordinate Lodges are governed direct by 
the Supreme Lodge. Assessments to meet 
death benefits are graded according to age 
at time of joining (thirty-five cents per 
81,000 at eighteen years of age, and seventy- 
five cents at fifty years), and are not in- 
creased with advancing years. The Order 
has paid over 8200,000 to beneficiaries since 
it was founded. Its motto is " Friendship, 



182 



ORDER OF THE SANHEDRIM 



Hope, and Protection." The total mem- 
bership is over 5,000, relatively the larger 
proportion being in Kansas. (See Order of 
Chosen Friends.) 

Order of the Sanhedrim. — Organized 
at Detroit, July 26, 1887. A beneficiary 
society of members of the press and others 
in Michigan and elsewhere. It is divided 
into Priests, Elders, and Scribes, together 
with "one who sits in Moses' seat." The 
National Sanhedrim is the governing body. 
There are also State Sanhedrims and sub- 
ordinate or little Sanhedrims. 

Order of the Star of Bethlehem. — 
"Permanently established " in America in 
1869, where it was introduced into New 
York and Pennsylvania, according to its 
official legend, by Albert Gross of New- 
castle-on-Tyne, England. At that period 
it was known as the Knights of the Star of 
Bethlehem. The Grand Commandery of 
Pennsylvania was instituted in 1870, and 
the Eminent Grand Commandery of North 
America in 1871. The Order prospered for 
several years, but fell behind in membership 
between 1878 and 1884, when an entire 
change was made in the officers, and the so- 
ciety reincorporated under its present title. 
The headquarters are at Detroit, in which 
city there are sixteen Lodges of the Order. 
It exists in nineteen States of the Union 
and reports a total membership of more 
than seventeen thousand men and women. 
The objects of the society are to unite ac- 
ceptable men and women who are respec- 
tively eighteen and sixteen years of age or 
over, and believers in a Supreme Being, in 
social and fraternal bonds, to " perpetuate 
the traditions of the Order ; " pay death, 
sick, accident, and disability benefits ; to 
defend the life, limb, and reputation of 
members from unjust assault ; and to assist 
members to obtain employment and to 
settle disputes by arbitration. Members 
in arrears for dues lose the right to speak 
and vote at meetings, and forfeit pecuniary 
benefits, but are not debarred from the 
social advantages of Lodge meetings. " The 



government of the Order in America " con- 
sists of the Eminent Grand Commandery, 
Grand Councils, Uniformed Conclaves, and 
Subordinate Lodges. Some of the official 
history of the organization, prior to its 
introduction into the United States, par- 
ticularly the more recent portion of it, is 
probably founded on fact. Much of it, 
particularly that which reaches far back 
into the distant past, would seem to rank 
with traditions once current, which brought 
Entered Apprentices, Fellowcrafts, and 
Master Masons in Masonic Lodges, organ- 
ized as at present, in an unbroken line 
down to to-day, from the building of King 
Solomon's temple. 

The story of the Bethlehemites, much 
abridged, states that it is "believed to have 
been originated in the first century of the 
Christian era/" exact date unknown, "as 
all records prior to the thirteenth century 
have been entirely destroyed." In the 
thirteenth century, we are told, "it was an 
order of monks called the Bethlehemites, 
who dressed like the Dominicans, and 
wore a five-pointed star on the left breast," 
... "in commemoration of the star that 
shone over Bethlehem," etc. "In the 
fourteenth century it was a powerful Order 
in England," and during the next two hun- 
dred years " seems to have consisted of two 
branches, the Monastic and the Knightly," 
evidences of which, it is declared, appear in 
the ritualistic work in use to-day. It seems 
unfortunate that the expression, " Star of 
Bethlehem tradition informs us," or some- 
thing similar, is not prefixed to the histori- 
cal revelations made. It is probably true 
that " the time when the Order in France 
and Spain ceased to be purely Monastic, 
and became a semi-military organization, 
will never be known." Other extracts in- 
clude those which identify the Order with 
the Waldenses in 1260, and state that 
many of the persecuted members of the 
Order of the Temple, after its destruction 
by Clement V., in 1312, " united with other 
Orders;" "that there are good reasons 



ORDER OF UNITED COMMERCIAL TRAVELERS OF AMERICA 



183 



for believing that quite a number united 
with the Bethlehemites, or Knights of the 
Star of Bethlehem." What the "good 
reasons are " is left to conjecture, which is 
to be regretted when one realizes this new 
complication put upon the various theories 
which have been advanced to show a con- 
nection between the Knights Templars of 
to-day and their fraters who were person- 
ally acquainted with Jacques de Alolay, 
Godfrey de Bouillon, and the rest. The 
Bethlehemite legend also relates that the 
Knights of Bethlehem (Equites Bethlehe- 
mensis) were placed under the ban of the 
Inquisition at Salamanca in 1359 ; that 
the Order was introduced into France by 
Sir Jean Lodet, in 1470, where it was exter- 
minated by the massacre of 1572, and that 
it was brought to England from Spain, about 
1473, by George Henry Percy. Nothing was 
heard of it there, however, " until 1571," 
by which time the Monastic and Knightly 
branches "had united and become a benevo- 
lent and scientific Order." Here there is 
a gap of 180 years, when it is related that 
Sir Henry Seymour succeeded Sir Herman 
Oviedio as Grand Commander, and after 
him others at reasonably short intervals. 
As women were admitted to some com- 
manderies and not to others, a schism took 
place in 1813, the seceding party, presum- 
ably those who objected to women as 
members, " uniting with others at Leeds to 
form the ' Royal Foresters/ ' This will in- 
terest the Ancient Order of Foresters, who 
omit all reference to this in their account of 
the origin of their society. By 1857 it is 
declared the Order was well established 
throughout England, Scotland, and North 
Ireland, but it declined in membership in 
later years, because each commandery was 
" made a Grand Commandery unto itself," 
and because, owing to the semi-religious 
character of the Order, it refused to be en- 
rolled under the friendly societies act. It 
is of interest to learn that the Knights of 
Bethlehem was first introduced into America 
in 1691 by Giles Corey of London, during 



the war between England and France, but 
was suppressed by the colonial authorities ; 
and also that it was brought to New 
York city by John Bell in 1849 or 1850, 
who established several commanderies at 
that city in 1851, which did not long sur- 
vive. A reference to the third and success- 
ful effort to bring this ancient society to 
America has been given. The ritual of the 
American branch is said to retain only the 
practical teachings on truth, fraternity, 
charity and the moral law, drawn from the 
ancient ritual. 

There is an auxiliary society within the 
Order of the Star of Bethlehem, known as 
the Eastern Star Benevolent Fund of 
America, organized in 1893, designed to 
increase the pecuniary benefits available to 
members of the Order. Only members 
who have attained the Eastern Star degree 
may join it. (See Shepherds of Bethlehem 
and Shepherds of America.) 

Order of the Triangle. — Registered in 
the L T nited States census reports for 1890 as 
a mutual assessment beneficiary society, with 
headquarters in Brooklyn. Nothing is 
learned of it there to-day. 

Order of True Friends. — Organized at 
New York in 1886 to insure its members 
by means of mutual assessments. It paid 
death benefits of $200, and weekly sick 
benefits of from $2.50 to $5.00. Letters 
addressed to it are unanswered. 

Order of United Commercial Trav- 
elers of America. — Organized at Colum- 
bus, O., and incorporated September 25, 
1890, under the laws of the State of Ohio 
by John C. Fenimore, Levi C. Pease, S. H. 
Strayer, TV. E. Carpenter, John Dickey, C. 
S. Ammel, F. A. Sells, and Charles B. 
Flagg to unite fraternally commercial trav- 
elers of good moral standing, to assist 
members and those depending on them, 
and to pay accident, sick, and death bene- 
fits. In case of sickness members receive 
$25 weekly for not to exceed fifty-two 
week's, or during illness, and a like weekly 
benefit during disability on account of 



184 



ORDER OF UNITED FRIENDS 



accident. The sum of $5,000 is paid to bene- 
ficiaries of a deceased member. The total 
membership of the Order is about 10,000. 
These indemnity features have been main- 
tained at an average cost to each member of 
$7 per annum. 

Order of United Frientls. — Organized 
and incorporated in New York State in 
1881 by John 0. Nott, Albany ; William 
H. Lee of Boston, Mass. ; A. A. Lamprey 
of Lawrence, Mass.; 0. M. Shedd of Pough- 
keepsie, 1ST. Y., and others. A secret fra- 
ternal beneficiary society, paying death and 
disability benefits. Men and women are 
eligible as members. The ritual is based on 
the teachings of the Golden Eule, and 
the motto is " Unity, Friendship, and Se- 
curity." This organization was the out- 
come of a schism in the Order of Chosen 
Friends, and numbers more than 20,000 
members. (See Order of Chosen Friends.) 

Order of United Fellowship. — Covered 
by the account of the Golden Kule Alliance. 

Order of Unity. — A mutual assessment 
beneficiary society, organized at Philadel- 
phia in 1889, by members of the Ancient 
Order of United Workmen, by Freemasons, 
Knights of Pythias, and others, for men 
and women, to secure the payment of $500 
and $1,000 death benefits and weekly sick 
and accident benefits ranging from $2.50 to 
$20. It is among the smaller organizations 
of its class, numbering only about 2,500. 
Total benefits paid since 1889 amount to 
about $140,000. The Order is non-secta- 
rian, and through its ritual teaches strength 
in union, justice to all, and protection 
through fraternity. 

Patriarchal Circle of America. — Or- 
ganized at Milwaukee, Wis., in 1880, by 
Newell Daniels, General A. B. Myens, and 
six others, as a fraternal beneficiary society. 
It has 3,000 members and confers three de- 
grees : Preparatory, Perfection, and the Pa- 
triarchal Feast and Knighthood ; the first 
two written by Newell Daniels in 1893, and 
the last prepared by G. C. Ridings, the Su- 
preme Secretary. The work is largely mili- 



tary. The colors of the organization are 
royal purple and gold. It has its own tac- 
tics for drill and sword exercise, and fur- 
nishes life insurance to its members, based 
on mutual assessments. Each Temple es- 
tablishes sick and funeral benefits at its 
option. The principal emblem consists of 
three elongated links, connected so as to 
form a triangle, the words "Honesty, Frater- 
nity, and Fidelity " and a representation of 
a knight's helmet at the top. The auxil- 
iary for women is called the Circle of the 
Golden Band, Temples of which insure the 
lives of its members and establish funeral 
and sick benefits if they wish. This society 
was originally an organization of Odd Fel- 
lows, formed to confer " the new degrees 
for Uniformed Patriarchs." It was repu- 
diated by the Sovereign Grand Lodge of 
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows in 
1885 but has continued to exist ever since in 
the State where founded. (See Independent 
Order of Odd Fellows.) 

Pennsylvania Order of Foresters. — 
See Foresters of America. 

Protected Fireside Circle. — Organized 
at Detroit, Mich. ; a social, beneficiary se- 
cret society for men and women. 

Protected Home Circle. — While in no 
way connected with the Home Circle of 
Massachusetts, the Protected Home Circle, 
organized at Sharon, Pa., in 1886, and 
chartered under the laws of Pennsylvania, 
presents a similarity in name and emblem, 
the latter being a monogram formed of 
the letters P, H, and C. As the first- 
named secret fraternal beneficiary associa- 
tion was formed seven years before the 
latter, the likenesses between them suggest 
and has been declared to amount to more 
than a coincidence. But it is certain that 
the Protected Home Circle resembles the 
older society in no other way except in 
that it has been successful and in that it, 
like its prototype, admits both men and 
women to membership. But it makes a 
radical departure in that, by placing twenty- 
five per cent, of all monthly assessments in 



ROYAL AID SOCIETY 



185 



a reserve fund, it maintains a fixed rate of 
payment and a definite number of assess- 
ments annually for each member. Those 
who join the society and preserve their 
standing and pay all dues and assessments 
for five years may, at any time thereafter, 
take paid-up certificates for the amount 
which their respective portions of the re- 
serve fund warrant, and thereafter, by sim- 
ply keeping up the payments of dues, be 
entitled to the amount of said certificates at 
death. The society was founded by promi- 
nent members of the Equitable Aid Union, 
the National Union — both secret assessment 
beneficiary societies — and of the Indepen- 
dent Order of Odd Fellows, and possesses 
an instructive ritual based upon biblical 
teachings. It pays total and permanent 
disability benefits, death benefits ranging in 
six classes from $500 to $3,000, with pay- 
ments adjusted to age, rate, and risk. Its 
motto is " Safety, Economy, Fidelity, and 
Purity," and its principal 'emblem is the 
representation of an eagle perched on 
the edge of its nest, guarding its young. 
The fraternal obligations enjoined are cal- 
culated to form a real brotherhood, and its 
distinctive feature is the requiring of a 
certain number of payments of a fixed 
amount so that each person becoming a 
member may compute the exact cost of his 
or her insurance for a given period. The 
funds are divided into four classes for 
the payment, respectively, of death and 
sick benefits, to j)rovide for the regularity of 
assessments and for maintaining and con- 
ducting the organization. There is a haz- 
ardous and an extra-hazardous class of 
occupations, followers of which are eligible 
to membership at special rates. Subordi- 
nate bodies are called Circles, and the 
Order is governed by a Supreme Circle 
composed of the founders of the Society, 
others elected to the Supreme Circle, and 
representatives from subordinate Circles, as 
provided in the constitution. The total 
amount of death and sick benefits paid by 
the Protected Home Circle since its organi- 



zation is about $400,000, and its total 
membership is over 2,000. Its permanent 
headquarters is at Sharon, Pa., but its 
members are found as far west as Missouri 
and north as far as Michigan. 

Provident League of America. — A 
Detroit assessment, mutual benefit Order, 
referred to in the census of 1890, but not 
known to the postal officials at Detroit to- 
day. 

Prudent Patricians of Pompeii of the 
United States of America. — Organized at 
Washington, D. C, under act of Congress, 
March 4, 1897, the first fraternal beneficiary 
association so formed, by Dennis T. Flynn, 
delegate in Congress from Oklahoma ; Phi- 
lip Walker, Grand Vice-Regent of the Royal 
Arcanum ; George A. Reynolds, Grand 
Secretary of the Benevolent and Protective 
Order of Elks ; W. J. Palmer, Past Noble 
Grand Manchester Unity, Independent Or- 
der of Odd Fellows, and others. Its objects 
are to provide for the payment of death 
benefits to white persons of both sexes on 
an immediate payment plan (the customary 
one), or an annuity payment plan, at the 
rate of ten per cent, annually ; to pay 
members a total and permanent disability 
benefit and also an old age benefit ; to 
educate members socially, morally, and in- 
tellectually ; to establish a bureau of infor- 
mation for members to aid them in obtain- 
ing employment, and to assist each other in 
business. Members who reach the age of 
seventy years are to be free from assess- 
ments and receive ten per cent, of the face 
of certificates annually. The President of 
Prudent Patricians is W. S. Linton, Past 
Great Commander of the Knights of the 
Maccabees, of Michigan, and the office of 
its prothonotary is at Saginaw in that 
State. 

Royal Aid Society. — Organized at 
Lynn, Mass., early in 1896, to pay $1,000 
and $2,000 to beneficiaries of deceased 
members, and maintain the usual accom- 
panying social and fraternal features. It 
differs from most of the later societies of 



186 



ROYAL ARCANUM 



this character in that it assesses members at 
a flat rate of 50 cents and $1 per thousand 
dollars of insurance at each death, instead 
of at the graded rate according to age, which 
the older and larger beneficiary fraternities 
have generally adopted. 

Royal Arcanuin. — One of the largest 
fraternal mutual assessment, beneficiary, 
and benevolent secret societies in the 
United States, founded by Darius Wilson, 
C. K. Darling, W. 0. Kobson, E. M. Craw- 
ford, J. A. Cummings, G. W. Blish, W. 
Bradley, J. H. Wright, and J. M. Swain, 
of Boston and vicinity, in 1877, and incor- 
porated as the Supreme Council of the 
Koyal Arcanum under the laws of the State 
of Massachusetts. Several of the founders 
were members of the Ancient Order of 
United Workmen and of the Knights of 
Honor and some were members of the 
Masonic Fraternity and of the Indepen- 
dent Order of Odd Fellows. The title of 
the society suggests a " royal secret," and 
the secret is declared to be the method by 
which to obtain " fraternal society i protec- 
tion ' at less cost than old line insurance 
companies furnish it." The Order owns a 
handsome building at Boston, where the 
Supreme or Governing Council meetings 
are held and where the general business of 
the organization is transacted. Subordinate 
Councils, which are found throughout the 
States and Territories in the more healthful 
districts of the Union, are governed by 
Grand Councils, or by the Supreme Coun- 
cil when situated where no Grand Councils 
exist, and the Supreme Council consists of 
its officers and representatives of Grand 
Councils. The Order is composed of ac- 
ceptable men between twenty-one and fifty- 
five years of age, and issues benefit certifi- 
cates for $1,500 and $3,000, payable at 
death. Starting with nine members in 
1877, its membership is now in excess of 
200,000, and it has paid out, in death ben- 
efits alone, more than $40,000,000. Subor- 
dinate Councils provide funds for the relief 
of sick or disabled members, and for the 



necessities of their families. The Supreme 
Council has charge of the Widows' and Or- 
phans' Benefit Fund, as the life insurance 
fund is called, which is collected by and 
paid out on order of subordinate Councils. 
The membership of the Order, while drawn 
nominally from all ranks of society, aver- 
ages higher than in many organizations 
and at most of the larger centres includes 
some of the best representatives of other 
fraternities, as well as of business, profes- 
sional and official life. Its chief emblem in- 
cludes a royal crown within a circle, on the 
circumference of which are ten small Mal- 
tese crosses without notches. The motto 
of the Order is " Mercy, Virtue, and Char- 
ity," which is mystically referred to in a 
manner known only to members. 

The initiatory ceremony, which has been 
changed once or twice, is quite the reverse 
of that found in the American Legion of 
Honor, being an elaborate ceremonial 
" well calculated to impress " the meaning 
of the motto of the Order upon the minds 
of all novitiates, even though they have 
passed through the ordeals required by 
other secret societies. But the almost un- 
exampled prosperity of the Eoyal Arcanum 
in its fifth of a century of existence has 
not blinded its leaders to the necessity for 
remodelling its system of assessments, at 
one time the best among those employed 
by like societies and now among the most 
advanced. Signs of an increasing number 
of assessments appeared in 1896, and the 
necessary steps were taken to so adjust the 
method of collecting them as to continue 
the success and prosperity which for so 
many years marked the progress of the 
fraternity.* 

* The twenty-first anniversary of the society was 
signalized by radical action looking to the more 
efficient protection of its members. This was done 
by " discarding the old post-mortem system" of 
assessments at deaths of members and establishing 
an emergency fund and ' providing for the war 
hazard " by laying twenty-one assessments accord- 
ing to the existing scale. The twenty-one assess- 
ments are based on expert estimates of eighteen 



ROYAL LEAGUE 



187 



In order to enable members to increase 
the amount of their insurance, practically 
within the ranks of the Order, the Loyal 
Additional Benefit Association was formed 
in 1889 and incorporated in 1890 under 
the laws of the State of New Jersey. 
Only members of the Koyal Arcanum, 
after an additional medical examination, 
are eligible to join the Loyal Additional, 
which offers benefit certificates payable at 
death for $1,000 or $2,000 as preferred, 
and establishes funds for the relief of sick 
and distressed members. William E. Hal- 
lenbeck of Jersey City founded the Loyal 
Additional, which numbers more than 6,000 
members. The Association is not a com- 
petitor of the Royal Arcanum, but is its 
supplement. The Supreme Council of the 
Royal Arcanum, while not in any way con- 
nected with or responsible for the Asso- 
ciation, expressed its commendation at 
its session in Milwaukee, in 1890, of the 
motives that prompted the organization 
and extended to its promoters its praise 
and encouragement. 

Royal Conclave of Knights and La- 
dies. — See sketch of Golden Rule Alli- 
ance. 

Royal Fraternal Guardians. — Organ- 
ized at San Francisco in December, 1895, a 

assessments to meet current mortality within a 
year, one to cover war risk, and two assessments to 
establish an emergency fund. These assessments 
are collected in twelve equal amounts, thus making a 
regular monthly call. The new system was adopted 
at the annual session of the Supreme Council, held 
at Cleveland in 1898 and went into operation 
August 1st in that year. 

By the new plan, $3,000 protection at the age of 
twenty-one calls for an annual payment of, or 
twelve monthly payments amounting to, $21.12 ; at 
thirty-one years, $30.24; at forty-one, $45.36; at 
fifty, $68.40, and at fifty-nine years, $136.56. 
These rates promise to produce an emergency fund 
of about two-thirds of a million dollars annually. 
The Order is to be congratulated on the wise and 
conservative action it has taken, the significance of 
which lies in the fact that no similar organization 
of like age has so low a death rate or is transacting 
a like volume of business at so small an expense. 



regular mutual assessment beneficiary so- 
ciety. 

Royal Fraternity, The. — Organized at 
Minneapolis, October 16, 1896, by K W. 
Bloss, 0. F. Underhill, H. W. Hatch and 
others, to pay death and various other bene- 
fits. Women are not eligible to membership. 
The chief emblem is composed of three tri- 
angles forming a nine-pointed star, with 
other details understood only by members. 
In less than a year .the society reported a 
total membership of 1,500. 

Royal Knights of King- David. — Re- 
corded in the census of 1890 as a fraternal 
beneficiary society, but no evidence of its 
continued existence has been obtained. 

Royal League, The. — A glance at the 
chief emblem of this mutual assessment 
beneficiary fraternity suggests that it is an 
offspring of the Royal Arcanum, as it con- 
tinues the use of the word "royal" in con- 
nection with the motto, •'Virtue, Mercy, 
and Charity." Inquiry corroborates this, the 
founders of the Royal League, at Chicago, 
in 1883, being members of the Royal Ar- 
canum. The former is incorporated under 
the laws of the State of Illinois, and its 
operation is confined to Ohio, Indiana, Illi- 
nois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and 
all the States and Territories west of the 
Mississippi River, north of the thirty-sixth 
parallel. It was evidently organized to 
introduce some modifications of the then 
exceptionally advanced method of coopera- 
tive life insurance employed by the Royal 
Arcanum, and bears' practically the same 
relationship to the latter as the Iowa Legion 
of Honor and the Northwestern Legion of 
Honor bear to the parent fraternity, the 
American Legion of Honor. The Royal 
League offers to unite acceptable men be- 
tween twenty-one and forty-six years of age 
to provide what it (and the Royal Arcanum) 
calls a widow's and orphan's benefit fund, 
from which, at the death of members, to pay 
12,000 or $4,000 to their families or depend- 
ents. The option of $2,000 or $4,000 insur- 
ance (instead of $3,000 only) constitutes only 



188 



ROYAL SOCIETY OF GOOD FELLOWS 



one difference between the two fraternities, 
as the younger introduced a $50 and a $25 
weekly benefit for permanent disability (to 
be deducted from the death benefit), to be 
paid at the request of the insured and the 
beneficiary, and it prohibited membership to 
followers of a long list of hazardous occupa- 
tions. Following in the footsteps of the 
Eoyal Arcanum, the League makes a feature 
of the social side of the organization, with 
the reading of papers, debates, and other 
entertainments. The government of the 
latter is vested in a Supreme Council, with 
Advisory Councils in States having the 
necessary membership. There were about 
14,000 members at the end of the thir- 
teenth year of the society's existence, 
during which period nearly $1,000,000 had 
been paid to beneficiaries. 

Royal Society of Good Fellows. — An 
incorporated fraternal assessment bene- 
ficiary society, organized on the lodge 
system in Ehode Island, in 1882, by mem- 
bers of the Ancient Order of United Work- 
men, Royal Arcanum, Knights of Honor, the 
Masonic Fraternity, and the Independent 
Order of Odd Fellows. It admits men and 
women to membership and pays death and 
sick benefits. Its membership is principally 
in the New England and Middle States, and 
aggregates about 15,000. Within fifteen 
years it has paid nearly $3,000,000 to bene- 
ficiaries. The Good Fellow's' emblem con- 
sists of the representation of a crown sur- 
mounted by a small Latin cross, the whole 
surrounded by a ring of twelve small tan- 
gent circles, in eleven of which are the 
letters forming the words " Good Fel- 
lows/' and in the twelfth a five-pointed 
star. The office of the Premier, as the 
chief executive officer is called, is in New 
York city. 

Royal Standard of America. — A mu- 
tual assessment beneficiary society, which 
may be addressed at Jersey City, N. J. 

Royal Tribe of Joseph. — Incorporated 
under the laws of the State of Missouri in 
April, 1894, as a fraternal beneficial so- 



ciety, with headquarters at Sedalia, in that 
State, by John N. Dalby, H. G. Clark, Ira 
T. Bronson, J. E. Eitchey, B. H. Ingram, 
E. C. Mason, Philip E. Chappell, E. S. C. 
Eeaugh, August T. Fleischmann, E. E. 
Durand, Stephen Pirkey, and William H. 
Black. H. G. Clark, St. Louis, was Gen- 
eral Superintendent of the Missouri Pacific 
Eailway ; Philip E. Chappell, Kansas City, 
had been State Treasurer of Missouri, and 
August T. Fleischmann of Sedalia was 
President of the Missouri State Board of 
Pharmacy. White men between twenty- 
one and sixty years of age, socially and 
otherwise acceptable, able to read and 
write, believers in a Supreme Being, not 
engaged in the manufacture of or traffic in 
alcoholic stimulants, who can pass the re- 
quired physical examination, are eligible 
to membership. It will accept railway 
engineers, firemen, freight conductors, ex- 
press messengers, yardmasters, and postal 
clerks, who are excluded from some similar 
societies, but railroad brakemen and others 
engaged in extra-hazardous occupations 
are excluded. Beneficiary certificates are 
issued for $1,000 or $2,000 below the age 
of fifty ; for $1,000 between the ages of 
fifty and fifty-five, and $500 between the 
ages of fifty-five and sixty, thus permitting 
a person below fifty to carry $4,000 if de- 
sired ; below fifty-five, $2,000, and below 
sixty, $1,000. One-half the face of the 
certificate is payable in case of total dis- 
ability in ten annual installments. The 
payment of sick benefits is optional' with 
subordinate Lodges. Death benefit certifi- 
cates may be taken out in either of two 
divisions. The first provides a graded rate, 
which increases with the age and risk of 
the member, and is payable in definite 
amounts each month. The other division 
permits a certificate being paid up at once, 
or in annual installments, during various 
periods, from one to twenty years. A cer- 
tificate in the latter class has a cash sur- 
render value, and is payable as disability 
benefit when a member reaches the age of 



THE GRAND FRATERNITY 



189 



expectancy, or to his beneficiary at death 
prior to that period. 

This society operates in the United States 
and Canada, but not south of the southern 
line of the States of Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, 
Illinois, and Missouri, nor in any district 
known to be unhealthfui. Its form of gov- 
ernment is the usual one among like frater- 
nities, the law-making power resting in the 
Supreme Lodge, under which Grand (State) 
Lodges have jurisdiction over subordinate 
Lodges in particular districts. The cere- 
mony of initiation is confined to one degree 
and considerable ingenuity has been exer- 
cised to render it attractive and impressive. 
It is based on Pharaoh's dream, its inter- 
pretation by Joseph, and the measures taken 
to provide food for the residents of the land 
of Egypt in " the seven years in which there 
shall be no corn crops." Eef erring to this 
and to the biblical statement that " in all 
the land of Egypt there was bread/' the 
Rev. T. De Witt Talmage, in a sermon on 
" Life Insurance," is quoted as saying ' ' this 
was the first life insurance company ; " 
whence the suggestion of the ritual of the 
Eoyal Tribe of Joseph. The society has 
over 3,000 members. 

Seven Stars of Consolidation, The. — 
Organized at Hearne, Tex., ten years ago, 
but not found there now ; beneficiary and 
fraternal in its features. 

Shield of Honor. — Organized at Balti- 
more in 1877, by John TV. Meeks, W. J. 
Cunningham, and Henry Duvall. Cun- 
ningham was a Freemason and an Odd Fel- 
low. Acceptable white men are permitted 
to become members, to whom sick and death 
benefits are paid, the former through sub- 
ordinate Lodges, in such amounts as may be 
determined, and the latter through the Su- 
preme Lodge, for stated sums, to meet 
which the entire fraternity is assessed. 
Death and sick benefits paid during the 
past twenty years will exceed $500,000. 
The ritual is based on an incident in the 
life of a prominent character in the Old 
Testament, suggested by the swords and 



bow and arrow on an open Bible, which, 
with the hour-glass, form the seal of the 
society. The membership, which aggre- 
gates about 14,000, is relatively heavy in 
Maryland and Pennsylvania, most of the 
officers of the Supreme Lodge residing at 
Baltimore or Philadelphia. 

Supreme Commandery of the Uni- 
versal Brotherhood. — Founded by 0. F. 
Bowles, at Natchez, Miss., as a secret 
beneficiary organization to pay sick, acci- 
dent, disability, old age, annuity, and death 
benefits. It is unique in that it contains 
members of both sexes, black and white. 
That an exemplification of the meaning of 
its title is possible is shown by a total mem- 
bership of about 9,000. The headquarters 
of the Order are at Natchez. 

Templars of Liberty. — An organiza- 
tion by this name, believed to have been 
beneficiary and patriotic in its objects, 
is known to have existed in Brooklyn and 
New York in recent years. 

The Grand Fraternity. — Organized at 
Philadelphia, in 1885, by Michael Nesbit 
of Philadelphia, Past Grand Master of Free- 
masons in Pennsylvania, member of the 
American Legion of Honor, Eoyal Arca- 
num, and Chosen Friends; Howard H.Morse 
of New York, also a member of the three 
beneficiary societies named ; TV. J. Newton 
of Washington, D. C, Supreme Treasurer 
of the Chosen Friends, and Chester Brad- 
ford of Indianapolis, Ind., a Freemason 
and a member of the Knights of Honor, 
Royal Arcanum, and Chosen Friends ; a 
charitable and beneficiary society paying 
permanent disability, old age, and death 
benefits, and annuities, by means of mutual 
assessments. The system adopted is based 
upon that in use in Great Britain, and is 
designed to afford a protection to the family 
and support in old age. Men and women 
between eighteen and fifty-five years of age 
are admitted on equal terms. On the death 
of a male member, an annuity is paid his 
widow as long as she lives without remarry- 
ing ; if she marries again it goes to the 



190 



TRIBE OF BEN-HUR 



minor children until they become of age. 
On reaching the old age limit a member 
receives an annuity as long as he or she 
lives, and if permanently disabled prior to 
reaching the old age limit, a member be- 
comes entitled to a half -rate annuity until 
reaching the old age limit, when full annuity 
is paid. There are six classes of annuities, 
ranging from $100 to $600, on which 
monthly assessments are collected (until the 
old age limit or permanent disability inter- 
venes) of from fifty cents to $3, making the 
total- annual assessments $6, $12, $18, $24, 
$30, and $36. The experience of the Fra- 
ternity during its first decade showed a 
total annual revenue of $30,000 per 1,000 
members, or enough to support seventy-five 
$400 annuitants. During the period named, 
its death rate had been only four to 1,000, 
at which rate it would have required twenty 
years to produce the seventy-five annuitants, 
during which time the annual surpluses 
would go on accumulating at compound 
interest. The organization has not grown 
rapidly, numbering about 2,000 members, 
by far the larger proportion being men. 
Its ritual is not based upon any so-called 
mystery or historical incidents, the cere- 
monial being confined to an explanation of 
the principles upon which the society seeks 
to accomplish its objects. Its best known 
emblem is a four-leaf clover, with the let- 
ters composing the word "help" distrib- 
uted upon the leaves. The primary aim of 
the society is not to pay insurance at the 
death of a member, but to turn over an- 
nually during the lifetime, or the lifetime 
of relatives, what would amount to the 
earnings of a given amount of insurance if 
invested. Thus, one who secures an annuity 
of $100 for his declining years, or for his 
family in the event of his untimely death, 
has practically insured himself for $2,000. 

Tribe of Ben-Hur. — One of the young- 
est of the better known secret assessment 
beneficiary societies is the Tribe of Ben- 
Hur. It was incorporated in Indiana, 
January 9, 1894, and on the 16th of Jan- 



uary of the same year the first meeting of 
the Supreme Tribe was held in the city of 
Crawfordsville, Ind. Ex-Governor Ira J. 
Chase was elected the first Supreme Chief. 
The Order grew out of a conference be- 
tween D. W. Gerard and F. L. Snyder, 
both of Crawfordsville, Ind., and General 
Lew Wallace, the author of the book 
"Ben-Hur/'' at the latter's residence in 
Crawfordsville, Ind., in November, 1893. 
Prior to this interview Messrs. Gerard and 
Snyder had carefully considered the ad- 
visability of founding an Order upon the 
book " Ben-Hur," providing the consent 
of General Wallace could be obtained to 
use some name which would be suggestive 
of that j30ok. During the interview, it was 
suggested that the name, " Knights of 
Ben-Hur," be selected, but General Wal- 
lace dissented, and remarked that " There 
were only tribes in those days," and sug- 
gested the " Tribe of Ben-Hur" as appro- 
priate. This was adopted and General 
Wallace gave his consent to the founding 
of the Order upon the story of " Ben-Hur," 
and secured the consent of his publishers,, 
who hold the copyright on the book. 

Immediately after, the preparation of the 
ritual and by-laws was begun, and in a 
short time thereafter several prominent 
men were invited to join in the work of 
founding the Order. Prominent among 
these were ex-Governor Ira J. Chase and 
Colonel W. T. Eoyse, both of Indianapolis, 
Ind. ; S. E. Voris, postmaster of Crawfords- 
ville ; and Dr. J. F. Davidson of Craw- 
fordsville, Ind., all men of experience in 
fraternal Orders, and most of them promi- 
nent in the insurance world, notably Messrs. 
Gerard, Eoyse, and Voris. 

The first subordinate Court of the 
Order was instituted at Crawfordsville, 
March 1, 1894, and was named " Simoni- 
des Court, No. 1, Tribe of Ben-Hur." The 
beneficiary plan was not perfected until 
April 5, 1894, when beneficial certificate 
No. 1 was issued. The popularity of the 
book " Ben-Hur " soon made the Order 



UNION FRATERNAL LEAGUE 



191 



prominent. By January 1, 1895, it had 
secured a membership of 1,701, and by 
January 1, 1896, 5,050. On January 1, 
1897, the membership was 12,322, 1,200 of 
which joined during December, 1896. 

Since its organization there have been 
thirty-one deaths, representing a total of 
$51,250 in losses, every one of which has 
been paid promptly without an assessment. 
The distinctive features of the Order are : 
(1) Men and women admitted to member- 
ship upon absolute equality ; (2) Uniform 
monthly payments of 81 for each whole 
certificate ; (3) Insurance graded accord- 
ing to age, from 18 to 54 years ; (4) No 
assessment upon death of members ; (5) 
Certificates paid up at " expectancy of 
life" ; (6) A reserve fund created from the 
beginning ; (7) Two beneficial divisions, 
northern and southern. 

The Order has collected from the be- 
ginning a stated monthly payment from 
each of its members, which has enabled it 
to promptly pay all losses, and to accumu- 
late in the surplus and reserve funds $35,- 
664 within the first thirty-three months of 
its existence. 

The Society is not a schism, or a branch 
of any other fraternal Order, but its found- 
ers brought to it years of experience in 
fraternal Orders, more especially in the 
Ancient Order of United "Workmen, from 
which they differed in being strong advo- 
cates of the necessity for and wisdom of a 
reserve fund. Its ritualistic inspiration is 
drawn wholly from the book "Ben-Hur." 
Its beneficial plan is unique, and tends to 
attract attention. Its emblems are " The 
Galley Ship," with "T.B.H." upon the 
sail, the " Chariot Race," and the seven- 
pointed star. It is operating in Indiana, 
Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jer- 
sey, Michigan, Illinois, Kentucky, Iowa, 
Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas, California, 
Oregon, Washington, Colorado, and else- 
where. 

Every applicant for beneficiary member- 
ship must pass a medical examination, and 



the very light mortality in 1896, 2| to 1,000, 
attests its present success. The Supreme 
Tribe owns a home in Crawfordsville, Ind., 
which cost $6,600. The Order is spread- 
ing rapidly throughout the various States, 
and the novelty of its beneficiary plan un- 
doubtedly has much to do with its rapid 
growth. Instead of insuring the lives of 
members for a stated sum or sums, in all 
instances, it varies the full amount of in- 
surance granted, according to the age of the 
applicant for membership, from 83,000 be- 
tween the ages of eighteen and twenty- three 
down' to $500 for those joining between the 
ages of fifty-four and sixty-five, to be paid 
from regular monthly dues kept steadily at 
•SI monthly in all instances. The latter 
feature is characteristic of the Ancient 
Order of United "Workmen, but the de- 
creasing scale of sums for which members 
may be insured, according to age at joining, 
constituted a new departure in the field of 
fraternal beneficiary insurance. On half 
certificates monthly payments are 50 cents, 
and at a like rate on one and one-half and 
on double certificates, but not more than 
13,000 is granted on one life, nor more than 
a whole certificate on the life of a woman. 

Triple Link Mutual Indemnity As- 
sociation. — A non-secret, incorporated and 
licensed insurance company, chartered un- 
der the laws of the State of Illinois in 1890, 
by members of the Independent Order of 
Odd Fellows, who were also members of 
the Grand Army of the Eepublic, to insure 
the lives of Odd Fellows and Daughters of 
Rebekah (attached to the Order of Odd 
Fellows) who are under sixty years of age. 
The insurance is met by mutual assess- 
ments graded according to age. The home 
office is at Chicago. 

Union Beneficial Association. — A mu- 
tual assessment insurance society at Tren- 
ton, N. J. 

Union Fraternal League. — Organized 
as at present at Boston, Mass., in 1895, 
by members of the Knights of Honor, 
Royal Society of Good Fellows, Pilgrim 



192 



UNITED AFRICAN BROTHERHOOD 



Fathers, Ancient Order of United Work- 
men, and of other leading fraternal soci- 
eties, prominent among them John C. 
Barthelmes of Brookline, Mass. ; William P. 
McKeever, Salem, Mass. ; John F. Reynolds 
and P. Kirk of Somerville, Mass.; J/)hn S. 
Smith, Dorchester, Mass.; A. Marois, Mel- 
rose, Mass. ; and F. X. Desjardins of Mon- 
treal, Quebec, as a beneficiary society, to pay 
death benefits of from $250 to $2,000, and 
sick and accident benefits graded from $3.50 
to $14 per week. Benefits are also paid for 
permanent disability due to chronic illness, 
paralysis, or loss of eyes, feet, and hands, 
one or both. It is incorporated under the 
laws of the State of Massachusetts, and ad- 
mits men and women to membership. As- 
semblies, as subordinate bodies are called, 
are found in the provinces of Ontario and 
Quebec, in most of the New England and 
Middle, and some of the Southern, North- 
western, and Pacific States. The League's 
headquarters are at Boston, and its princi- 
pal officers are representative business men 
who are acquainted with the management 
of organizations of this character. The 
Union Fraternal League was originally in- 
corporated under the fraternal beneficiary 
laws of Massachusetts, on June 19, 1889, 
under the name of the International Fra- 
ternal Alliance, by J. B. Moses, P. Kirk, 
S. Rothblum, 'William P. McKeever, J. F. 
Reynolds, William Horwood, and James T. 
McNamee, and began business as a frater- 
nal endowment corporation. It issued cer- 
tificates for seven hundred dollars, payable 
in seven years, and provided death, sick, and 
disability benefits. The Order was fairly 
successful up to 1893, when the Massachu- 
setts Legislature proposed to close out En- 
dowment Fraternal Orders. A trustee was 
therefore appointed to wind up the business, 
and the endowment class is now perma- 
nently closed. Previous to closing out of 
the endowment class, the issue of certifi- 
cates was begun on the present plan. In 
1895 its name was formally changed to 
the Union Fraternal League, as there was 



another Order of the same name operating in 
another State. It has about 2,000 members. 

United African Brotherhood. — Organ- 
ized, as indicated, by negroes, at Clinton, 
Tex., as a fraternal beneficiary society. 
Letters sent to the Brotherhood at Clinton 
were returned unopened. 

United Friends of Michigan. — An 
incorporated fraternal beneficiary secret 
society, composed of both men and women, 
which pays death, disability, and old age 
benefits by means of assessments, and does 
business exclusively in Michigan. Candi- 
dates for beneficiary membership must be 
over eighteen and under fifty-one years of 
age. Its distinctive emblem is a cornuco- 
pia, or horn of plenty, across a shield bear- 
ing the American colors and the initials U. 
F. & P., Unity, Fraternity, and Protection. 
The society was founded at Detroit in 1889, 
by Dr. G. F. Kirker of that city, E. F. 
Lamb of Mount Morris, Mich., and oth- 
ers, and numbers nearly 10,000 members. 
(See Order of Chosen Friends.) 

United League of America. — A dis- 
affection among German members of the 
Order of Chosen Friends at Chicago, in 
1895, due in part to dissatisfaction with a 
projected plan for equalization, resulted in 
a schism and the formation of an indepen- 
dent fraternal beneficiary secret society 
under the title given above. It is not 
known whether it is still in existence. (See 
Order of Chosen Friends.) 

United Order of America. — A new 
beneficiary society, organized at Los An- 
geles, Cal. 

United Order of Foresters. — The orig- 
inal United Order of Foresters consisted, in 
its best estate, of 13,000 members, practically 
the American membership of the Indepen- 
dent Order of Foresters, when at Albany, 
in 1881, that branch of the Independent 
Order changed its name to the United 
Order of Foresters. (See Independent 
Order of Foresters.) The Canadian branch 
refused to adopt the new name and con- 
tinued as the Independent Order, while 



UNITED ORDER OF THE PILGRIM FATHERS 



193 



the new United Order disappeared within 
a few years. The present United Order is 
of recent origin, having been founded in 
1894, and its Courts are located princi- 
pally in Chicago, elsewhere in Illinois, and 
through Wisconsin and Minnesota. Its 
approximate total membership is about 
1,200. This society is practically an 
imitation of other Orders of Forestry so 
far as the name, titles, and emblems are 
concerned ; and, like the other children of 
the parent Order, was organized by mem- 
bers of older Orders of Foresters. In 
general government and objects it is not 
unlike the latter, except that its Supreme 
Court governs the Order direct. Its mem- 
bers pay regularly each month into the 
insurance fund a due proportion of the 
total cost of carrying the risk for the aver- 
age duration of life instead of collect- 
ing for death benefits, as deaths occur 
" regardless of this unavoidable average 
cost." The United Order claims the latter 
system (very largely in use by prominent fra- 
ternal beneficiary societies) works cheaply 
the first five or ten years, while the death 
rate is below the average, but causes a short- 
age in the insurance fund, which must ulti- 
mately fall on surviving members. A1-' 
though the youngest Order of Forestry, it 
has adopted some of the best insurance 
features of the Independent Order of Fores- 
ters, which was founded at Newark, N. J., 
in 1874. It does not go south of the 38th 
parallel of latitude for members. Benefit 
certificates for $500, $1,000, $2,000 and 
$3,000 are issued, one quarter of which is 
payable upon partial permanent disability, 
one-half upon permanent disability, and the 
whole amount on arriving at seventy years 
of age, or at death. 

United Order of Hope. — The address 
of the Supreme Lodge of this mutual bene- 
fit organization is St. Louis, Mo. Its em- 
blem is formed of a monogram of the let- 
ters O. H. and an anchor. No replies to 
inquiries concerning the society have been 
received. 

13 



United Order of the Pilgrim Fathers. 

—Early in the fall of 1878, the following 
gentlemen and their wives, residents of 
Lawrence, Mass., some of them members 
of one or more of the fraternal insurance 
Orders, Ancient Order of United Workmen, 
United Order of the Golden Cross, Knights 
of Honor, Royal Arcanum, and American 
Legion of Honor, as well as of the Masonic 
Fraternity and the Odd Fellows, conceived 
the idea of forming an insurance Order 
which would confine its membership to the 
New England States : J. C. Bowker, James 
E. Shepard, A. J. French, Charles R. 
Peters, M. B. Kenney, Fred R. Warren, 
Charles Lloyd, H. A. Wadsworth, W. L. 
Seaver, A. V. Bugbee, A. W. Allyn and 
Henry W. Rogers. Associated with them 
were Miss Mary P. Currier and Charles 
McCarthy. Several meetings were held, and 
a constitution and ritual adopted, and plans 
perfected for organizing. After much con- 
sultation the name United Order of Pilgrim 
Fathers was adopted. On February 15, 
1879, the first Colony was formed in 
Lawrence, Mass., which took the name May- 
flower. Included in its membership w T ere 
all of the incorporators and seventy-five 
others, in all one hundred and one. In the 
following month thirteen of the founders 
were granted a charter under the laws of 
Massachusetts. The objects, as set forth in 
the charter, are to aid members when in 
need, and assist the widows and orphans 
or other legatees and beneficiaries of de- 
ceased members. The Supreme Colony 
was organized immediately and Supreme 
officers elected. The total membership 
December 31, 1896, was 21,463. This 
society presents graded assessments insur- 
ing men and women from eighteen to fifty 
years of age, for $500, $1,000, or $2,000, and 
has one hundred and ninety-three Colonies 
scattered throughout the New England 
States. The principal emblems consist of 
a representation of the ship " Mayflower," 
encircled by a white enamelled band with 
U. O. P. F. over the top, E. H. F. at the 



194 



UNITED STATES BENEVOLENT FRATERNITY 



bottom, with the dates 1620-1879. The 
Supreme Colony meets annually. It is 
composed of the incorporators, a represen- 
tative from each subordinate Colony, and 
an additional representative for each one 
hundred members. Five trustees are elected 
at each annual meeting, who, together with 
the Supreme Governor, Supreme Lieutenant 
Governor, and Supreme Treasurer, consti- 
tute the Board of Directors, who meet 
once in each month for the purpose of 
approving bills, passing upon proofs of 
death and ordering assessments. The Or- 
der is in a flourishing condition. It has 
paid nearly $2,500,000 to beneficiaries of 
deceased members. 

United States Benevolent Frater- 
nity. — Founded by Thomas H. McGechin, 
its first president, at Baltimore, Md., Feb- 
ruary 22, 1881, to pay death, total dis- 
ability, and annuity benefits. It admits 
white men and women on equal terms, is a 
lineal descendant of the Eoyal Arcanum 
and American Legion of Honor, and num- 
bers about 1,000 members. 

United States Benevolent Fraternity. 
— Organized at Baltimore prior to 1890 as 
a mutual assessment beneficiary society. 
It died in 1894. 

"V. A. S."— The Vera Amicitia Sempi- 
terna est, or True Friendship is Eternal, 
was organized at Grenell, la., in 1879, as a 
graded assessment, fraternal benefit society, 
confined to the State of Iowa. It paid 
death benefits of $2,000 each. In 1891 it 
was merged into the Security Life Associa- 
tion of Clinton, la. It paid all obliga- 
tions up to the date of loss of iden- 
tity. Its successor was a small insurance 
company, with headquarters at Washing- 
ton, la. 

Western Knights Protective Associa- 
tion. — Founded by fifteen members of 
various fraternal societies at St. Charles, 
Minn., its present headquarters, as a 
straight death benefit organization, to unite 
all acceptable white persons between 
eighteen and fifty-four years of age in 



Lodges, or Assemblies, as they are called, 
to their moral, intellectual, social, and 
financial advantage. Death benefits are 
paid by means of fixed monthly, quarterly, 
semi-annual and annual payments, or, if 
preferred, a paid-up " benefit bond " may be 
secured on a single payment. The Associa- 
tion is composed of its local Assemblies ; 
its Grand Assemblies, made up of repre- 
sentatives elected by local Assemblies ; and 
of the Supreme Assembly, the legislative 
body of the Association, which comprises 
representatives from Grand Assemblies and 
the original incorporators. 

Woodmen of the World. — Organized 
as a fraternal beneficiary society, June 3, 
1890, at the Paxton Hotel, Omaha, Neb. 
W. O. Eodgers, M.D., of Omaha, presided, 
and F. A. Falkenburg of Denver, Col., 
was secretary. The following were also 
present : J. Cullen Root, Lyons, la.; F. F. 
Roose, Lincoln, Neb. ; W. N. Dorward, 
Omaha, Neb. ; Robert T. Court, Spring- 
field, 111. ; John T. Yates, Omaha, Neb. ; 

B. Wood Jewell, Manchester, la., and 
W. Murray Guiwitts, Lincoln, Neb. The 
following, not present, sent word they 
intended to become members : Buren R. 
Sherman, Waterloo, la. ; Theodore H. 
Thomas, Denver, Col. ; L. J. Moss, West 
Superior, Wis. ; S. Leonard Waide, Mus- 
catine, la. ; C. K. Erwin, Tomah, Wis. ; 

C. C. Farmer, Mt. Carroll, 111., and W. C. 
Homermiller, Tomah, Wis. The govern- 
ing body of this new society of Modern 
AVoodmen of America, as it was then 
called, is the Sovereign Camp of the 
World. At a meeting in Omaha, June 4, 
1890, benefit certificates were authorized at 
$1,000, $2,000, and $3,000, to be issued 
only to members of the Sovereign Camp, 
and it was further provided that when the 
Sovereign Camp exceeds 10,000 members, 
a separate jurisdiction maybe formed, pro- 
vided membership in the proposed juris- 
diction shall exceed 5,000. A Pacific 
Jurisdiction was established, consisting of 
Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, Nevada, 



WOODMEN OF THE WORLD 



195 



Washington, Oregon, California, and Colo- 
rado. Organization was perfected at a 
meeting, June 5, 1890. At the fourth 
meeting, August 13, 1890, the name of the 
organization was changed to Woodmen of 
the World, and that of the governing body 
to Sovereign Camp, Woodmen of the 
World, owing to the similarity between the 
former title and that of the original Mod- 
ern Woodmen of America. In the inter- 
vals between sessions of the Sovereign 
Camp the society's affairs are managed by 
its officers and the Sovereign Executive 
Council. The Order has also spread into 
the Canadian Dominion, where there is a 
separate jurisdiction. The principal of- 
ficers are salaried and give bonds for the 
faithful performance of their duties, from 
which it is plain that the life insurance 
feature dominates. The growth of the 
organization is shown in the following 
figures : 

Insurance Deafli 
Year Certificates Insurance Written during ^^ 



in Force. 



in Force. 



the Year. 



per 
1000. 



1891 5,461 $11,971,300 $13,277,000 3.3 

1892 10,106 22,604,600 15,502,600 4.3 

1893 14,057 30,780,200 17,495,900 6.1 

1894 20,272 41,612,200 21,147,000 8.6 

1895 33,027 65,693,200 38,419,500 6.8 

While the development in membership 
and financial strength has been rapid, the 
death rate and assessments have been low, 
as there were sixty-eight assessments dur- 
ing the first seventy-eight months of the 
Order's existence — fewer than one per 
month. The system and the growth shown 
are credited to J. C. Eoot, a thirty-second 
degree Scottish Eite Freemason, a member 
of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, 
of the Knights of Pythias, of the Ancient 
Order of United Workmen, the Iowa Le- 
gion of Honor, and founder of the Modern 
Woodmen of America. The ancient So- 
man methods of obligating underlie the 
initiatory ceremonial, and, as shown by its 
principal emblems — the beetle, wedge, and 
axe, symbols of the woodmen's craft (also 
displayed by the Modern Woodmen of 
America) — it attempts, so far as practi- 



cable, to tread in paths less frequented by 
modern secret society ritualists, the idea 
evidently having been to parallel efforts of 
earlier secret societies, to utilize in cere- 
monials customs and implements employed 
m some of the primitive occupations of 
mankind. Results of this method are seen 
not only in Masonic rituals, but in the sug- 
gestiveness of the titles, the Ancient Order 
of Shepherds, the Fishermen of Galilee, 
the Ancient Order of Foresters, and the 
Ancient Order of Gardeners. In the 
Woodmen of the World, an additional step 
is taken by preserving in form and cere- 
mony implements and teachings drawn 
from woodcraft. There is no relationship 
between the two Orders of Woodmen ex- 
cept that the same man founded each, and 
that they employ similar emblems, as do 
some other important but independent so- 
cieties, such as the various Orders of Odd 
Fellows and of Foresters. 

The Woodmen of the World insures the 
lives of members between 16 and 52 years 
of age, for $500, $1,000, $1,500, $2,000, 
$2,500, or $3,000 each, by means of assess- 
ments graded according to age, and, fur- 
thermore, agrees to place a monument to 
cost $100 at the grave of every deceased 
member. Only white men are eligible to 
membership, and there is no restriction as 
to religious creed or political conviction. 
The ritual is dignified and impressive, 
teaching no abstract dogma or philosophy, 
seeking to exemplify the " grandeur of the 
voluntary association of good men for their 
advantage and improvement." Only one 
degree, known as the Protection degree, is 
obligatory. Additional degrees, Morning, 
Noon, and Night, are furnished to Camps 
desiring to elaborate fraternal work. 

Women may unite with the recently or- 
ganized Women's Circles, which contain 
over 1,000 members. They are said to 
form useful social auxiliaries. Woodmen's 
Circles also pay death benefits and erect 
monuments at the graves of deceased 
women members. Circles meet in Groves 



196 



WORKMEN'S BENEFIT ASSOCIATION 



which are governed by a Supreme Forest, 
subject to the approval of the Sovereign 
Camp of the Woodmen of the World. 
Woodmen joining between the ages of 16 
and 33 years become life members in 30 
years ; between 33 and 43 years they be- 
come life members in 25 years ; and those 
joining at over 43 years of age become life 
members in 20 years. Death benefits of 
life members are paid by means of a spe- 
cial quarterly assessment when necessary. 
The Order is governed by a Sovereign 
Camp having three subordinate Head 
Camps, two in the United States and one 
in Canada. Subordinate Camps have been 
established in more than 1,300 cities and 
towns in the more healthful portions of 
the United States, in central western and 
northwestern States and in the Dominion 
of Canada, and more than $1,000,000 has 
been paid in death benefits during six years 
of the fraternity's existence. The total 
membership in the United States is about 
35,000, exclusive of members of Wood- 



men's Circles. In Canada there are about 
3,000 members. The Woodmen of the 
World " is the only Order of its kind that 
places a monument at the grave of every 
deceased member, that issues a paid up 
certificate at the end of a certain period, 
and that makes its certificates incontest- 
able after one year." 

Workmen's Benefit Association.— 
Founded by J. Varnum Mott, M.D., at 
Boston, Mass., June 23, 1893, as a frater- 
nal beneficiary society, to afford additional 
insurance to members of the Ancient Or- 
der of United Workmen, who alone are 
eligible to join. It issues certificates of 
$1,000, payable at death of holders. Its 
membership is 5,500. 

World Mutual Benefit Association.— 
A non-secret stock company doing a life 
insurance business on the assessment plan. 
It makes a specialty of insuring members 
of the fraternal secret Order of the World, 
which does not insure its own members. 
(See Order of the World.) 



ECLECTIC ASSEMBLY 



197 



III 



MUTUAL ASSESSMENT BENEFICIARY FRATERNITIES 
.[SHORT-TERM OR ENDOWMENT.] 



American Benevolent Association. — 

One of the more recent accident, total dis- 
ability and sick benefit endowment orders, 
its feature being ten-year distribution cer- 
tificates, providing life insurance to a cer- 
tain amount during continuance, and "a 
competency " for the holder if he survives. 
The Association was founded and incorpo- 
rated by W. R. Eidson, F. H. Pickrell, 
John H. Allen, Dr. J. D. Irwin, Erie De 
Jong, Dr. A. T. Martin, and Henry T. 
Burns at St. Louis, Mo., in 1894. Men 
between fourteen and sixty-five, and women 
between fourteen and fifty-five years of age 
are eligible to membership. Certificates are 
issued in eight amounts, ranging from *"2.~><> 
to $2,000, on which regular monthly pre- 
miums are paid. The Association is ac- 
tively at work in Missouri, Kentucky, Illi- 
nois, Indiana, Michigan, Nebraska, Iowa, 
Kansas, Colorado, Indian Territory, Texas, 
Louisiana, Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia, 
Florida, and Tennessee. Equality for man 
and woman, faith, hope, and benevolence, 
and loyalty to country are typified in the 
emblems. It confers one degree, the cere- 
monial of which is said to be dignified and 
impressive. The total number of members 
is about 12,000. 

American Benevolent Union. — Date 
of organization at Boston unknown. (See 
Order of the Solid Rock.) 

Benevolent Union. — Organized at Bos- 
ton in 1889. (See Order of the Solid Rock.) 

Columbus Mutual Benefit Associa- 
tion. — Organized at Philadelphia in 1893, 
and incorporated under the laws of Pennsyl- 
vania. It combines the features of the 
building and loan association with those of 
the fraternal beneficiary order, in which it 



follows the path marked out by the Inter- 
national Fraternal Alliance of Baltimore. 
(See the latter.) Men and women between 
fifteen and fifty-five years of age may be- 
come members. Holders of shares may apply 
for loans after six months' membership. 
Shares are issued in nine amounts, rang- 
ing from S200 to 85,000, which mature in 
ten years, or are payable in full, prior there- 
to, at death of holders. Its ritual is based 
on the " Landing of Columbus." 

Eclectic Assembly. — Incorporated un- 
der the laws of Pennsylvania, January 3, 
1893, with headquarters at Bradford, Penn., 
by \Y. R. Weaver, C. P. Collins, L. E. 
Hamsher, W. E. Burdick, II. A. Canfield, 
George A. Berry, Freemasons; and by T. J. 
Melvin, Alanson Palmer, C. F. McAmbley, 
W. W. Brown, and J. B. Cochrane, to offer 
a combination of the most desirable features 
"found in the justly popular insurance or- 
ders of the present day." Its system of 
assessments is declared to be adjusted so 
that only twelve payments are necessary 
each year in order to build up the reserve 
fund, pay accident and death benefits, and 
one-half the sums called for in certificates, 
where holders reach the " age of expect- 
ancy." Men and women are received as 
members on equal terms, and insured in 
any of six classes, which range from $500 
to $3,000. The Order is governed by a 
Supreme Assembly and a Supreme Board 
of Directors. It publishes the obligation 
required of those who become members, 
which is merely a solemn promise to obey 
the rules of the organization, and not com- 
municate its "private work" unlawfully. 
Its ritual is based on mythology, and its 
signs refer to God's covenant with man. 



198 



FRATERNAL ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA 



There are references also to red men, the 
early inhabitants of America. The emblem 
of the organization is an anchor within an 
equilateral triangle, the sides of which are 
denominated Hope, Truth, and Charity. 
Its membership numbers about 1,500. 

Fraternal Association of America. — 
Organized at Boston. (See Order of the 
Solid Kock.) 

Fraternal Guild. — A short-term or en- 
dowment order, founded at San Francisco 
in 1889. Untraced. 

Industrial Benefit Order, Boston. — 
(See Order of the Solid Eock.) 

Industrial Order of America. — A Bos- 
ton organization. (See^ Order of the Solid 
Rock.) 

International Fraternal Alliance of 
Baltimore. — Organized by William Baum- 
garten, C. E. P. Brewer, W. J. Wroth, and 
others, members of a number of the best 
known beneficiary Orders, the Masonic Fra- 
ternity, Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, 
and Eed Men, to pay sick, disability, and 
death benefits, and enable its members to 
secure homes on the most favorable terms. 
It seeks to combine in its " building loan 
and insurance shares" the advantages of a 
sound system of insurance with the building 
and loan system of protection and accumu- 
lation. One advantage claimed over the 
regular building and loan association is in 
the payment of the full face value of shares 
held at the death of the lending member, 
instead of only the amount paid in on them 
at date of death. Should the deceased be 
a borrower on his shares, the possessor of a 
house mortgaged to the Alliance, "the 
mortgage is cancelled at once," and "the 
family or home left entirely free from debt. " 
Its membership includes about 10,000 men 
and women, residents of thirty States of the 
Union and the Dominion of Canada. Pay- 
ments on shares are made on the assessment 
system, or as regular monthly dues. The 
Alliance, in common with short-term, en- 
dowment, or life-benefit orders, has been 
subjected to criticism and litigation, but has 



been fairly successful in its chosen field. Its 
ritual shows traces of Masonic handiwork. 
Much of its success has been due to the 
activity of C. H. Unverzagt. The "Fra- 
ternal Monitor," published at Eochester, 
N". Y., says that the stand taken by the 
Alliance, as an exponent of the system of 
paying benefits during life, " has done much 
to keep the system alive and oppose oppres- 
sive legislation." 

International Order of Twelve, of 
Knights and Daughters of Tabor. — 
Founded by Eev. Moses Dickson, a promi- 
nent clergyman of the African Methodist 
Episcopal Church, at Independence, Mo., 
August 12, 1872. It is an "Afro-Ameri- 
can labor and benevolent association," or- 
ganized on the lodge system, with an elabo- 
rate series of titles and ceremonials. It 
"numbers 100,000 members" in thirty 
States, England, Africa, and the West Indies. 
The society explains that there was an anti- 
slavery secret organization of negroes at the 
South in 1846, entitled the Order of Twelve, 
and two others, some years later, the 
Knights of Liberty and the Knights of 
Tabor, upon which the founder of this 
society built the International Order of 
Twelve, of Knights and Daughters of Ta- 
bor. Knights of Tabor now meet in Tem- 
ples and Daughters in Tabernacles, while as 
Princes and Princesses of the Eoyal House 
of Media they convene for literary and so- 
cial entertainment in Palatiums. Maids 
and Pages of Honor, as juvenile members 
are called, meet in Tents. The Order pays 
death and sick benefits, and, except in the 
juvenile department, endowment or short 
term benefits also. The chief emblem dis- 
played on its publications is an eye be- 
tween two groups of numerals, 777 and 333. 

Iron Hall, of Baltimore City. — An- 
nounced to have been "reorganized" on 
"the original plan" of the Order of the 
Iron Hall, an Indiana fraternal beneficiary 
society for men and women. The latter 
went into the hands of a receiver in 1892. 
(See Order of the Iron Hall.) The Iron 



NATIONAL DOTARE 



199 



Hall, of Baltimore City, was formed at Balti- 
more by Freeman D. Somerby and others 
in 1892, and incorporated under the laws of 
the State of Maryland as an insurance so- 
ciety. Its different branches control the 
reserve fund of the Order, which "in 
case of trouble . . . not even a receiver 
could touch." It has nearly 9,000 mem- 
bers, and gives evidence of increasing 
growth. Among other features it embodies 
a plan of seven-year maturing certificates, 
and death benefit certificates of from $200 to 
$1,000 each, which include sick and total 
disability payments. It also issues straight 
life policies of 81,000, 82,000, and 83,000, 
which are to mature in twenty years, and 
has a pension savings fund, certificates un- 
der which head are issued in like amounts 
with a benefit provision for old age on at- 
taining the age of seventy-three years. Any 
acceptable white person between sixteen and 
sixty-five years of age, a believer in a Su- 
preme Being and who is competent to earn 
a livelihood, is eligible to become a member. 
The Order has " a brief and pointed ritual," 
with " just enough of secret society machin- 
ery " to secure mutual obligations. Among 
its founders were Knights of Pythias, 
Knights of Honor, Chosen Friends, and 
Freemasons. Women are received on the 
same terms as men, and are eligible to the 
highest office. 

Knights and Ladies of America. — A 
"mutual benefit, savings, and loan frater- 
nity," instituted in 1894 under the laws of 
the State of Xew York, with its headquar- 
ters in New York city. It is non-sectarian, 
non-political, and seeks to form a medium 
" between the high-priced tontine insurance 
companies and the very low-priced fraternal 
orders," a sort of "compulsory savings 
bank." Its founders were members of the 
Masonic Fraternity, the American Legion 
of Honor, Eoyal Arcanum, and the Junior 
Order of United American Mechanics, the 
influence of the latter showing itself in the 
stress laid upon "our glorious country 
America " in its ritual. There is no physi- 



cal examination as a prerequisite to admis- 
sion and men and women between sixteen 
and sixty years of age are eligible to mem- 
bership. Its subordinate Councils are gov- 
erned by a Supreme Council. It loans to 
members from 860 to 8600 on certificates of 
from 8100 to 81,000, and pays a cash benefit 
of 8100 to 81,000 at (death or) the end of 
sixty-five months' membership. The build- 
ing and loan society feature combined with 
sick, disability, and death benefits charac- 
terize the Society. There is also an arrange- 
ment for cash withdrawals, and the cost of 
each 8100 certificate is II monthly. All 
loans are limited by the amounts paid in, 
and in case of death prior to the maturity 
of a certificate, the benefit paid consists of 
the total amount paid in with 6 per cent, in- 
terest. Loans are made on first mortgages 
on real estate at 6 per cent., and are repay- 
able in monthly installments. The secret 
work of the organization is not elaborate. 
Its motto is " Love, Truth, and Justice." 

Knights and Ladies of Protection. — 
A short term or endowment order for men 
and women formed at Roxbury, Mass., and 
recorded in the United States census of 
1890. Not known to exist now. 

Modern Order of Craftsmen. — Found- 
ed at Detroit, Mich., in 1894, and incor- 
porated under the laws of Michigan as a 
fraternal beneficiary order. Its certificates 
mature in twenty years, and a paid-up value 
is given them, if desired, after five years. 
There is also a plan by which surplus funds 
are loaned to members on real estate, first 
mortgage security, to enable them to pro- 
cure homes. 

National Dotare. — Organized at De- 
troit, Mich., in 1892, a short term mutual 
benefit society. It agreed to pay 81,000 to 
holders of certificates who should pay the 
specified assessments during the life of cer- 
tificates. The plan depended on lapses of 
membership to make it "a success." The 
society soon went into the hands of receiv- 
ers. At one time it had a monthly income 
of 85,500. 



200 



NATIONAL FRATERNAL UNION 



National Fraternal Union. — One of 

the younger in the sisterhood of secret bene- 
ficiary societies, having been organized at 
Cincinnati by Freemasons, members of the 
Knights of Pythias and of the Independent 
Order of Odd Fellows, in 1889, to insure 
the lives of its members in sums ranging 
from 1500 to 15,000, or furnish ten, fifteen, 
and twenty-year endowments. The Union 
was incorporated under the laws of Ohio by 
its founders, S. L. Miner, John B. Peaslee, 
A. Alanson Phelps, W. C. Lockwood, Lee 
H. Brooks, L. E. Casey, and F. M. Dillie. 
The endowment certificates are framed to 
provide sick and accident policies, and after 
two years' membership a cash surrender is 
allowed on endowment certificates. This 
society enjoys the unique distinction of 
being "the first of its kind" to loan its 
surplus funds to members on the building 
and loan association plan. It therefore 
offers regular life insurance on the assess- 
ment basis, or on the endowment plan, with, 
sick and disability insurance, and its reserve 
fund as loans for building. No charges are 
made for initiation, medical examination, 
or for lodge dues, the regular monthly 
payment including the entire cost of mem- 
bership. Both men and women are mem- 
bers. The six-pointed star containing a mo- 
nogram formed of N. F. and U., encircled by 
a chain and the initials of the motto, " Ad- 
vancement, Protection, and Fraternity," 
constitute its public emblems. The ritual 
is suggested by the motto, and includes 
three degrees, one for each word. The 
membership numbers about 10,000. 

National Protective Legion. — A fra- 
ternal beneficiary society organized and char- 
tered under the laws of the State of New 
York in 1891, by members of the Masonic 
Fraternity, to unite all acceptable men and 
women in one association, the aim of which 
shall be benevolence, social culture, the care 
of the sick and needy, and to provide and 
maintain a fund for the benefit of its mem- 
bers while living, and for the protection of 
their families in the event of death. Its local 



Legions are governed by Grand or State 
Legions, and the latter by the National 
Legion, which transacts the business of the 
order. The Legion seeks to combine some 
of the desirable insurance features found in 
similar societies, conspicuously among them 
a semi-endowment plan, by which part of 
the face of death benefit certificates is paid 
during the life time of holders; a cash sur- 
render value after five years and sick and 
disability benefits; in addition to which the 
certificate holder may borrow from the bene- 
fit fund up to a certain amount, giving the 
certificate as security. The office of the 
National Legion is at Waverly, N. Y. Its 
total membership is about 4,000. 

Order of iEgis. — Founded at Baltimore, 
in 1892, by Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, 
and members of various fraternal orders, 
to insure by means of assessments the lives 
of acceptable white men and women be- 
tween sixteen and fifty-five years of age for 
$500, 11,000, $2,000, or $3,000, and pay 
them weekly benefits during sickness. The 
secrets of the Order are reduced to those 
serving to identify members. At the first 
biennial session of the Supreme Lodge of 
the Order it was decided to issue certificates 
on the ten-year endowment plan, thus plac- 
ing the organization among those which pay 
a specified sum to members at the end of a 
given period or to their beneficiaries in the 
event of their not surviving the certificate. 
The emblem of the Order is a shield bearing 
the Stars and Stripes surrounded by a scroll 
containing the motto, " Fraternity, Protec- 
tion, Equality, and Security." Total mem- 
bership about 6,500. 

Order of Equity. — Founded at Indian- 
apolis, Ind., in 1889, by some of the leading 
officers of the Knights of Pythias in that 
State, and by Freemasons and Odd Fellows, 
to pay members from $6 to $25 weekly in 
case of accident or sickness, and funeral 
benefits of from $40 to $100 at the death of 
a member, to comfort sick and distressed 
members of the Order, and to assist them 
in obtaining employment and in business. 



ORDER OF THE CONTINENTAL FRATERNAL UNION 



201 



It issued certificates of $200, 8300, $400, 
and $500, "to mature in five and eight 
years from date of issue," which classed it 
among the short-term or endowment orders. 
These certificates carried sick, temporary 
disability, and funeral benefits. Both men 
and women were admitted to member- 
ship. The Order was scattered through 
nearly twenty States, but was strongest in 
the central West. It paid more than 
8200,000 in benefits, with a total member- 
ship of only about 4,000. Its ritual re- 
ferred to the parable of the Good Samaritan 
and the healing of the lepers. The Order 
went into the hands of a receiver in March, 
1897, owing $72,000 to holders of certifi- 
cates, with assets amounting to only $35,000. 
The institution was similar to the original 
Order of the Iron Hall, which failed in 
1893. 

Order of Home Builders. — Organized 
January 25, 1890, and registered as a fra- 
ternal beneficiary order with the State 
Department of Pennsylvania. Its Grand 
Lodge, or governing body, is permanently 
located at Philadelphia. It admits men and 
women between fifteen and sixty- five years 
of age on equal terms, and pays $500, $250, 
and $125 death benefits, according to age; 
sick benefits of $7 per week for a monthly 
payment -of 40 cents, and annuity benefits 
to widows, orphans, or other beneficiaries, 
ranging from $100 to $500. There is also a 
savings department in which members may 
make monthly deposits for six years, after 
which they are to receive the sums paid by 
them into the benefit fund, together with 
their pro rata shares of the profits of the 
savings department. 

Order of Pendo. — A mutual assessment, 
beneficiary organization doing business un- 
der the laws of the State of California. Its 
headquarters are at San Francisco. 

Order of Pente. — Organized at Phila- 
delphia in 1888, and chartered under the 
laws of that State as a fraternal, coopera- 
tive, beneficiary association. Its name, as in 
the case of the Sexennial League, formed at 



the same city in the same year, is based on 
its short term — in this instance, five-year ma- 
turing certificates — as opposed to the system 
of payment of benefit certificates only at 
death. There were Freemasons, Odd Fel- 
lows, Knights of Pythias and members of 
the Grand Army of the Republic among the 
founders, but there is no particular trace of 
the influence of any of those societies in the 
private work of the organization. The 
7,000 members, mostly in Pennsylvania, in- 
clude women and men between the ages of 
sixteen and sixty-five years to whom it 
pays sick and disability benefits of from 
$5 to $25 weekly, and from $100 to $500 
in case they hold a certificate for that 
sum for a period of five years. It also loans 
money upon certificates up to 75 per cent, 
of the amount paid in on them. The seal 
of the Order discloses a five-pointed star 
inscribed within a pentagon. 

Order of Solon — Organized at Pitts- 
burgh in 1888. (See Order of the Solid 
Rock.) 

Order of Sons of Progress. — Organized 
in Philadelphia in 1879. (See Order of the 
Solid Rock.) 

Order of Twelve. — An anti-slavery se- 
cret society of negroes formed in 1846. De- 
funct. (See International Order of Twelve, 
of Knights and Daughters of Tabor.) 

Order of the Benevolent Union. — See 
Order of the Solid Rock. 

Order of the Continental Fraternal 
Union. — Similarities of names of secret 
beneficiary societies are strongly marked 
among the various "Unions," one of the 
younger of which, the Continental Frater- 
nal, with about 3,000 members (men and 
women), has its headquarters at Richmond, 
Ind., where it was founded in 1890 by mem- 
bers of the Knights of Honor, the Royal 
Arcanum, the Ancient Order of United 
Workmen, and, as usual, the Independent 
Order of Odd Fellows and the Masonic Fra- 
ternity. It pays sick and death benefits, 
and seeks to insure its members as near 
actual cost as possible. Its aim is economy 



202 



ORDER OF THE FRATERNAL CIRCLE 



and mutual helpfulness, and a feature of its 
method is the payment of $1,000 to mem- 
bers on a stated basis of assessments, in six 
and one-half years, thus characterizing it 
as one of the so-called short-term orders. 
Its emblem is made up of the clasped hands 
across a shield, above which are the letters 
U. H. F., and below, the word " Union," 
the whole surrounded by a wreath of oak 
leaves. 

Order of the Fraternal Circle. — See 
Order of the Solid Rock. 

Order of the Golden Rod. — Organized 
at Detroit in 1894 by George Ra viler (of 
Knights of the Maccabees, International 
Fraternal Alliance, and Order of the Orient) 
and Emil C. Hansen (of Royal Adelphia, 
National Dotare, Order of Vesta and 
Woodmen of the World) to encourage econ- 
omy and thrift among its members, both 
men and women. The feature of its system 
is the issuing certificates of $50 each to its 
members in a series of 250, on which a fee 
and semi-monthly assessment of 25 cents are 
charged. No member carries fewer than 
two certificates, which mature in their nu- 
merical order as soon as funds from assess- 
ments accumulate to the par value of the 
lowest numbered. In case of death of a 
member in good standing the beneficiary 
may continue to pay the assessments and 
dues and receive the benefits at maturity, 
or draw out the sum total paid in assess- 
ments with interest at 7 per cent. 

Order of the Helping Hand. — Organ- 
ized at Lynn, Mass., prior to 1890, a short- 
term, assessment insurance society. It is 
registered in census reports for 1890, which 
it did not long survive. 

Order of the Iron Hall. — Organized as 
a fraternal beneficiary secret society by Emi 
Kennedy, Freeman D. Somerby and others, 
at Indianapolis, Ind., in December, 1881, 
and incorporated under the laws of that 
State. Its object was fraternal, sick, dis- 
ability, and endowment insurance upon the 
assessment plan . It was also a secret soci- 
ety, having an initiation ceremony and pass 



words. At the beginning men only were 
admitted, and later women were admitted 
as social members, without the right to vote 
in its councils, but at the time of the ap- 
pointment of the receiver they had all the 
privileges of the association. Persons were 
admitted between the ages of eighteen and 
sixty-five years. The total membership dur- 
ing the life of the Order was about 125,000. 
The highest membership at any one time was 
probably about 70,000. The membership at 
the time of the appointment of the receiver, 
August, 1892, was 63,000. The society 
failed because the system or theory of its 
organization was not practicable. The 
moneys paid into the Order by the mem- 
bers earned no increment so far as the books 
of the association disclosed. The Order 
was said to make money on lapses of mem- 
bership and claimed that there was an in- 
crease of four members for each certificate 
maturing; or all that a member had to do 
"was to get in four other members, and 
that would enable the association to pay him 
out." Practically the association lost in the 
aggregate more than $100,000 on account 
of lapsing members. The Iron Hall of 
Baltimore city was organized in 1892 by 
members of the original Iron Hall, with 
Freeman D. Somerby at its head. 

Order of the Orient. — A Michigan mu- 
tual benefit, fraternal order, which found 
itself in the hands of a receiver in 1895 and 
has since disappeared. An order by the 
same name was in existence on the Northern 
Peninsula of Michigan and in Wisconsin in 
1895, but efforts to obtain details of their 
origin, character, and progress have been 
fruitless. 

Order of the Royal Argosy. — An en- 
dowment or short-term fraternal society, 
organized at San Francisco in 1888. Un- 
traced. 

Order of the Royal Ark. — See Order 
of the Solid Rock. 

Order of the Solid Rock. — Founded in 
1889 at Boston, Mass., a short-term or 
endowment fraternal organization. It is 



PROGRESSIVE ENDOWMENT GUILD OF AMERICA 



203 



recorded in the census of 1890 as among the 
many similar societies of that period which 
endeavored to pay back the face of endow- 
ment certificates of from $100 to $200, $300, 
$400, $500, and, in some instances, $1,000 
to surviving members within a few years. 
These societies also paid weekly sick benefits, 
so long as they lasted, ranging from $2.50 to 
$5, and from $5 to $20. A great many un- 
thinking or uninformed people became in- 
terested in these short-term endowment 
societies and some lost money. Most of 
these societies died after meeting one set of 
maturing certificates, and comparatively few 
remain to-day. 

Order of the World, of Boston.— See 
Order of the Solid Rock. 

Order of Tonti. — A Pennsylvania short- 
term or endowment mutual assessment 
fraternity. It assigned in 1895, and its 
assets were divided by the court among 
more than 15,000 certificate holders. 

Order of Vesta. — One of the numerous 
mutual assessment, short-term, or tontine 
fraternal organizations which started up a 
few years ago. Its membership was chiefly 
in Pennsylvania, where it made an assign- 
ment in 1895, and was subsequently wound 
up. 

People's Favorite Order. — See Order 
of the Solid Rock. 

People's Five- Year Benefit Order. — 
See Order of the Solid Rock. 

People's Mutual Life Insurance Or- 
der. — A short-term or endowment assess- 
ment fraternity, located in census reports 
for 1890 at Nashville, Tenn., where it was 
founded in 1882. Unknown there now. 

Progressive Endowment Guild of 
America. — A conservative and well-estab- 
lished cooperative, beneficiary society, or- 
ganized by Freemasons, Knights of Pythias, 
and members of the Royal Arcanum, and 
chartered by the Legislature of Virginia, 
embodying endowment or short-term in- 
surance, sick benefits, and cash withdrawals. 
"White men and women between eighteen 
and sixty-five years of age are eligible to its 



three classes of membership. Subordinate 
Chapters are governed by a Supreme Chap- 
ter, between sessions of which the business 
of the order is managed by a Supreme 
Executive Committee of seven members. 
In Class A, to which those between eighteen 
and fifty years of age are admitted, certifi- 
cates of from $500 to $5,000 are issued, 
payable in ten years, or immediately in 
case of death, which also provide sick bene- 
fits of $5 weekly on every 81,000, to be 
deducted from the amounts carried. This 
is met by monthly payments at the rate of 
$3.66 for every $1,000. Class B, "inter- 
mediate," consists of those between fifty- 
one and fifty-eight years of age, who receive 
like benefits, except in case of death during 
the ten-year period, w T hen beneficiaries re- 
ceive one-tenth of the face of certificates 
for each year of membership and fraction 
thereof. Class B includes those between 
fifty-nine and sixty-five years of age, who 
cannot pass a satisfactory physical examin- 
ation or are unwilling to submit to one. 
They enjoy similar benefits, but in case of 
death their beneficiaries receive only the 
amount paid in for assessments. The funds 
of the Guild are invested in mortgages on 
improved real estate. Five per cent, of all 
assessments is set aside for the Reserve 
Benefit Fund, no part of which is to be 
expended until it amounts to $500,000, and 
then only to limit assessments to one for 
each month. A feature is made of the 
provision that after membership for six 
consecutive years in good standing all mem- 
bers unwilling or unable to continue pay- 
ing assessments may have their certificates 
made non-forfeitable to the amount paid 
in, which sum is payable at death or on 
reaching the age of seventy years. Persons 
following hazardous occupations or who 
live in localities subject to epidemics are 
eligible to membership, but in case of death 
during the ten-year period are treated as 
members in Class B, "intermediate." This 
applies also to those w T ho commit suicide 
during the first ten years of membership. 



204 



ROYAL ADELPHIA 



While disclaiming being a secret society, 
"in the ordinary meaning of the words," 
the Guild has its obligations, its "private 
work " and means of identifying members, 
which constitute about all that is secret 
in many latter-day secret societies. The 
Guild has grown less rapidly than some 
similar organizations but far more stead- 
ily, and ranks second to none of the endow- 
ment or so-called short-time orders. Its 
membership numbers about 5,000, and in- 
cludes the names of many whose reputation 
crosses State lines, conspicuously, Charles 
T. O'Ferrall, formerly governor of Virginia. 

Royal Adelphia. — Pounded at Detroit 
in 1883, a fraternal beneficiary society of 
the short-term or endowment variety, or- 
ganized to pay death benefits of $1,000, 
$2,000, and $3,000, and sick benefits of $15 
weekly. It died ten years later. Some of 
its members were identified with the Na- 
tional Dotare and the Order of the Golden 
Kod. 

Royal Benefit Society. — A mutual as- 
sessment, life and endowment beneficiary 
organization, incorporated under the laws 
of the State of New York with its home 
office in New York city. It was organized 
in 1893, and among its founders were Free- 
masons, Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, 
and members of a number of the Eoyal Ar- 
canum and other beneficiary secret societies. 
Its membership amounts to more than 
3,000. It issues certificates to men and 
women in sums of from $250 to $3,000, pay- 
able at death or at the end of ten, fifteen, 
and twenty years, by means of monthly as- 
sessments or premiums of from $1 to $15. 
There are also weekly benefits in cases of 
sickness or accident. " Paid up w benefits 
are issued at any time after three years, and 
cash surrenders are allowed after five years. 
There are also joint certificates for husband 
and wife, payable to the survivor, or, if on 
the endowment plan, as arranged in the 
application. This society combines charac- 
teristics of the long and short term, mutual 
assessment, fraternal orders, with some of 



the features of the ordinary life insurance 
company. Its tendency to the business 
rather than the social or fraternal side of 
secret society life is shown in the statement 
that it has a "plain, business-like ritual 
and manual." 

Sexennial League. — Organized and 
chartered under the laws of the State 
of Pennsylvania, July 18, 1888, by David 
C. Keynolds and others, one or more of 
whom were members each of the Ancient 
Order of United Workmen, Royal Arca- 
num, American Legion of Honor, Order of 
Sparta, of the Masonic Fraternity, and the 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows. The 
definite object of the association was offi- 
cially stated to be "to enable all persistent 
members to have an opportunity to save 
small amounts periodically, which, merging 
in a common fund, would produce large in- 
crease from safe investments, the benefit to 
be shared by the persistent members in pro- 
portion to the certificates held by them. 
The features of paying an ample sick bene- 
fit and a moderate death benefit were also 
incorporated. The distinctive feature was 
the termination of membership at the end 
of six years from joining ; each six years, if 
a person continuously rejoined, being thus 
a period of reaping the benefits of faithful 
membership. The certificates were of five 
denominations, $200, $400, $600, $800, and 
$1,000." Extra assessments, if required, 
were optional ; that is, members might pay 
them or allow their certificates to pay them; 
but the latter course drew upon the amounts 
to become due at the expiration of the 
sexennial, or six-years' period. Benefici- 
aries of members who died during the life 
of their certificates received one-tenth of 
the certificates if two years had elapsed, 
and proportionate amounts at later dates, 
or the heirs could continue the certificates, 
and receive the full amounts due at matur- 
ity. Sick benefits are paid for four weeks 
during one continuous illness, and a pro- 
vision is also made for total disability bene- 
fits. The laws provide "that a stated cash 



UNITED ORDER OF EQUITY 



205 



rate of two assessments per month shall be 
called during the six years/' and '-'it is ex- 
pected that the reserve accumulations with 
interest and lapses will produce the face 
value of the certificates." The plan of co- 
operative endowment, combined with sick 
and other benefits which the Sexennial 
League made prominent among American 
fraternal orders, is referred to in the Ameri- 
can supplement to the "Encyclopaedia Bri- 
tannica" (vol. iv., p. 545) as a distinctly 
modern idea ; but it is fair to add that so 
many similar organizations have met with 
disaster that the success, or partial suc- 
cess, of the system appears to be practically 
dependent on lapses of membership of a 
considerable number who embark in the 
enterprise. That this is appreciated by 
those most interested is shown by the use 
of the expression "persistent members " in 
the official announcement quoted above. 
The League's first sexennial period ended 
without loss, but owing to interference by 
the Insurance Commissioner of the State of 
Pennsylvania in 1895, the endowment feat- 
ure was modified and the League permitted 
to continue its operations "on a reduced 
scale." It is still relatively successful 
.among similar organizations, numbering 



nearly 25,000 members, both men and 
women. The Supreme Lodge, by which 
subordinate Lodges are governed on a 
strictly representative system, is located at 
Philadelphia. The society's ritual pos- 
sesses something of novelty among like 
productions, being based on the life of 
Archimedes, having particular reference to 
his discovery of the principle of the lever, 
and the words, " Give me a fulcrum on 
which to rest, and I will move the earth." 
The emblem displayed in its Lodge rooms 
contains representations of Archimedes, the 
lever, fulcrum, and the earth. 

Society of Select Guardians. — A short- 
term or endowment order, which issues 
certificates of from $100 to $1,000, payable 
in seven years, and death benefit certificates 
of $500, $1,000, and $2,000. It is as promi- 
nent as elsewhere at Newark, N. J. 

Sons and Daughters of America. — 
Fall Eiver, Mass., short-term beneficiary so- 
ciety. (See Order of the Solid Rock.) 

The Union Endowment. — See Order 
of the Solid Rock. 

United Endowment Leagrue. — See Or- 
der of the Solid Rock. 

United Order of Equity. — See Order 
of the Solid Rock. 




206 



AHAVAS ISRAEL 



IV 



HEBEEW ASSESSMENT BENEFICIAET SOCIETIES 



Ahavas Israel. — A charitable and be- 
nevolent Hebrew beneficiary society paying 
death and sick benefits by means of mu- 
tual assessments. It was founded at New 
York city in 1890 by B. Nemberger, Alter 
Gottlese, L. Elerman and others, variously 
members of the Masonic Fraternity, the 
Independent Order of Odol Fellows, the 
Sons of Benjamin, and Independent Order 
B'rith Abraham. Wives of members are 
covered by its system of insurance, and 
over $60,000 has been paid for relief 
and death benefits since 1890. The chief 
emblem is the ancient one, a pair of 
clasped hands. Total membership about 
3,000. 

American Star Order. — A charitable 
and benevolent society of Roumanian He- 
brews organized at New York city in 1884, 
to pay death and sick benefits by means of 
mutual assessments. Women whose hus- 
bands are members, are members while the 
husbands are alive and in good standing. 
Death certificates of $500 are paid, and 
about $140,000 have been so expended since 
the society was organized. The total mem- 
bership is about 5,500, nearly one-half being 
women. The motto is " Charity, Harmony, 
and Brotherly Love," and the emblem is a 
five-pointed star containing three Hebrew 
characters with the Roman numeral XIII 
below and the letter G- above. 

Improved Order of B'nai B'rith. — A 
mutual assessment beneficiary society which 
only Hebrews (men) may join. It was 
founded at Baltimore in 1887 by two Lodges 
of the Independent Order of B'nai B'rith, 
numbering about 230 members, who, as ex- 
plained, "were dissatisfied" with the laws 
of the latter order. It exists only in the 
United States, where its Lodges are found 



at many of the larger cities east of the Mis- 
sissippi River. It insures the lives of mem- 
bers for $1,000, and the lives of wives of 
members in one-half that amount. Subor- 
dinate Lodges pay t sick benefits as arranged. 
Death benefits are paid by the Supreme 
Lodge. The order is similar to other He- 
brew assessment beneficiary secret societies. 
Its ritual is based upon the covenant of God 
with Noah, Abraham, and Moses, and its 
principal emblem consists of the All-seeing 
Eye above three pillars which frame the 
tablets of stone containing the Roman nu- 
merals suggesting the Ten Commandments, 
and inculcates the practice of charity, not 
only within, but beyond the limits of the 
membership of the Order. Its membership 
exceeds 3,000. 

Independent Order of American Is- 
raelites. — Founded at New York city in 
1894 by William Heller, Magnus Levy, Rob- 
ert Blum, Aaron Levy, Carl L. Lewenstein, 
and Leopold Kramer, some or all of whom 
had been members of the Independent Or- 
der, Free Sons of Israel and of the Sons of 
Benjamin ; a charitable and benevolent He- 
brew society, paying $1,000 to the heirs of a 
deceased member, if a man, and $500 to 
beneficiaries of a deceased woman member, 
by means of mutual assessments. Subordi- 
nate lodges also pay sick benefits. It ex- 
ists in the United States only, and reports 
about 3,000 men and 2,500 women mem- 
bers, to whom or their heirs about $9,000 
has been paid in relief or as benefits. The 
secret ceremonies of the order are based on 
the story of the Exodus of the Jews from 
Egypt. The seal of its Grand Lodge dis- 
plays the words, "Liberty, Equality, Fra- 
ternity," over a spread eagle, with shield, 
holding American flags in its talons. 



INDEPENDENT ORDER, B'NAI B-RITH 



207 



Independent Order, B'nai B'ritli 

(Brotherhood of the Covenant). — Founded 
in 1843 in New York city as a'' fraternal, 
charitable, and benevolent Jewish organiza- 
tion.' It numbers nearly 500 Lodges in 
America, Europe, Asia, and Africa, with a 
membership of about 35,000. The emigra- 
tion of Jews to America from the old coun- 
try began about 1830, and ten years later 
there were several congregations here, most 
of them conforming to ancient practices and 
clinging to traditional forms. A number 
of German Jews possessing a liberal educa- 
tion perceived that Jews who had come from 
foreign villages and country towns, and had 
begun here in an humble way, would not 
be able to work their way up except through 
education; and Henry Jones, a native of 
Hamburg, conceived the idea of forming a 
society, the chief purpose of which should 
be to foster education and to encourage the 
higher pursuits of life. He found a few 
men in accord with him, twelve in all, who 
laid the foundation of the new society deep 
and strong. Their greatest success was in re- 
conciling the orthodox, conservative, and 
reform Jews. Among the founders of the 
Order were Dr. Leo Merzbacher, the first 
reform preacher of Temple Emanuel ; Rev. 
Dr. Lilienthal, subsequently of Cincinnati; 
Baruch Rothschild; Dr. Emanuel Moses 
Friedlein, lately deceased ; and Julius Bien, 
who has been president of the Order since 
1869, in which year the Society was reor- 
ganized. Among the names of the original 
members are also those of William Renau, 
Reuben Rodacher, Isaac Dittenhoefer, 
Henry Anspacher, Samuel Schafer, Hirsch 
Heineman, Valentine Koon, Isaac Rosen- 
bourgh, Jonas Hecht, Henry Kling, and 
Michael Schwab. In the beginning its gov- 
ernment was patriarchal, but at the New 
York convention of delegates in 1869 the 
sovereignty of the Supreme Grand Lodge 
was transferred to subordinate Lodges, 
which were to exercise their functions 
through delegates who were to assemble 
every five years and form Constitution 



Grand Lodges. In the interval an execu- 
tive committee of one representative from 
each Grand Lodge and a president elected 
as delegate-at-large, were to exercise su- 
preme control, subject to the fundamental 
law-as embodied in the constitution and as 
interpreted by a Court of Appeals consist- 
ing of a member from each District Grand 
Lodge. The Order has directly or indi- 
rectly established many benevolent institu- 
tions — at New York, a free circulating li- 
brary with more than 30,000 volumes; at 
Yonkers, a home for the aged and infirm, 
affording shelter for 100 men and women; 
at Cleveland, an orphan asylum supporting 
and educating more than 1,000 children; 
and at New Orleans, Atlanta, Ga., and at 
San Francisco similar refuges, supported by 
the members of the Fraternity. At Phila- 
delphia there is a technical school, and at 
San Francisco a free religious school. A 
well-equipped trade school at Chicago, sup- 
ported and maintained by the entire Jewish 
community, owes its existence to the Order. 
District Grand Lodges meet at New York. 
Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Chicago, New 
Orleans, and San Francisco. In 1882 peti- 
tions were received from Jews residing in 
Berlin for a charter to establish Lodges in 
Germany, which was granted, and the first 
Lodge at Berlin was called the "Reich- 
stage." Some of the foremost German Is- 
raelites joined the Fraternity, and there are 
now twenty-nine Lodges there, working un- 
der their own Grand Lodge. The Order 
soon spread to the far East, and Lodges of 
the B'nai B'rith are at work in Jerusalem, 
Jaffa, Beyruth, Cairo, Alexandria, and else- 
where in the Levant, where, owing to their 
influence, schools, libraries, and agricultural 
plants have been established. A branch 
was established in Roumania by the late 
Benjamin F. Peixotto, during his residence 
at Bucharest as Consul-General of the 
United States, and Roumanian Lodges are 
now working under a Grand Lodge of their 
own. In Austria a sufficient number of 
Lodges have been instituted to form a 



208 



INDEPENDENT ORDER OF FREE SONS OF ISRAEL 



Grana Lodge, which meets at Prague. The 
Order has schools in Koumania, and a hos- 
pital in the ancient city of Jerusalem, and 
anticipates an early invasion of the United 
Kingdom, where it is expected to establish 
Lodges of the Brotherhood of the Covenant 
and continue the benevolent work with 
which its name is associated throughout the 
world. The death benefit paid by means of 
assessments to surviving relatives of mem- 
bers of the Order amounted to $1,000 prior 
to 1893, but since that time members have 
been insured in the sums of $1,000, $1,500, 
and $2,000. A recent financial exhibit 
states that since its organization in 1843, 
the Order has aided needy members to the 
extent of $18,000,000, has paid to widows 
and orphans $30,000,000, expended in the 
construction or improvement of charitable 
institutions $15,000,000, and for other chari- 
ties $35,000,000; in all, $98,000,000 within 
fifty-five years. This record constitutes a 
monument to the philanthropy and benevo- 
lence of the Order, which was of Masonic 
inspiration, and whose emblem is the Meno- 
rah, or seven-branch candlestick, the em- 
blem of Light. Its ritual is based upon 
Light, teaching the uniting of Israelites in 
works of benevolence and the interests of 
humanity. The Secretary of the Executive 
Committee and Treasurer of District Grand 
Lodge, No. 1, is Solomon Sulzberger 'of New 
York. Moritz Ellinger is editor of the 
" Menorah Magazine," the official organ of 
the Order; and S. Hamburger, Secretary of 
District Grand Lodge, No. 1, New York, 
has been identified with the Society since 
1851. Other well-known officials are Joshua 
Kantrowitz, lawyer, President of District 
Grand Lodge, No. 1; and Simon Wolf, of 
Washington, a member of the Executive 
Committee. 

Independent Order of Free Sons of 
Israel. — A charitable and benevolent secret 
society of Hebrews which pays $1,000 to 
beneficiaries of deceased members, and cares 
for sick and distressed members, their wid- 
ows and orphans. It employs some Ma- 



sonic nomenclature and outward forms, but 
has for its motto, " Friendship, Love, and 
Truth," which is identified with various 
Orders of Odd Fellows. In its official his- 
tory, referring to the political and intellec- 
tual emancipation of the Jews, with which 
Moses Mendelssohn, who lived at Berlin 
more than one hundred years ago, was iden- 
tified, it recalls that dissensions on the Con- 
tinent of Europe "drove large numbers of 
the irrej)ressible race to the shores of liberty- 
loving America," where they "banded 
themselves together for protection and edu- 
cation." The first Lodge of the Indepen- 
dent Order Free Sons of Israel, Noah, No. 1 
(named after Judge Mordecai M. Noah of 
New York, ex- Consul General to Tunis), 
was established at the corner of Eidge and 
Houston Streets, New York, January 10, 
1849, by Friedman Kohn, Henry Strauss, 
H. Stern, Carl Abales, Charles Heyneman, 
Abraham Posner, S. Buttenheim, I. Eegens- 
bergh, and Lazarus Lobel. The same men 
were delegates to the Constitutional Grand 
Lodge, which was instituted March 10, 
1849, and met again one week later, when 
the motto of the society was adopted. The 
third meeting of the Grand Lodge was on 
March 22, 1849, when laws for the govern- 
ment of subordinate Lodges, regalia,-- etc., 
were adopted. Although special returns 
concerning the Order state there is no wom- 
en's branch, the official history says that 
Toechter (Daughter) Lodge, No. 1, " a la- 
dies' lodge," was instituted July 8, 1849, 
and is " still in existence." In the message 
of Grand Master Julius' Harburger before 
the Grand Lodge of the United States, 1897, 
the following explanation appears: "For 
many years a number of Lodges composed 
of ladies being the wives, relatives, and 
friends of the members of the Brotherhood 
have been doing most excellent work, and 
while they are not under the direct jurisdic- 
tion of our Brotherhood, yet they consider 
their work, so to speak, linked with that of 
our Order." Abraham Lodge, No. 2, was in- 
stituted May 7, 1849, and late in that year 



ORDER OF B'RITH ABRAHAM 



209 



Reuben Lodge,, No. 3, which was joined by 
thirty former members of Struve Lodge, Ho. 
17, of the German Order of Harugari who 
had just resigned from the latter. This ac- 
cession brought with it Isaac Hamburger, 
afterward Past Grand Master, and H. J. 
Goldsmith, who became Past Grand Secre- 
tary of the Independent Order Free Sons of 
Israel, and who, for eminent services, are 
ranked as founders. The latter was elected 
Secretary of Reuben Lodge in 1855, two 
years after he had drafted a new ritual for 
the Order and been elected Degree Master. 
The growth of the society was conservative 
but healthful, the membership numbering 
only 453 members divided among seven 
Lodges in 185G, and 928 members in ten 
Lodges in 1863. On April 25, 1865, the 
Order, as yet confined to New York city, 
assembled and took part in the funeral 
ceremonies of Abraham Lincoln. The first 
Lodge established out of New York was 
Benjamin, No. 15, at Philadelphia, July 30, 
1865, where the society grew and prospered. 
The Order includes many of the leading 
and progressive Jewish citizens of the coun- 
try, numbers about 15,000 members in 104 
Lodges, has a reserve fund of 8725,000, and 
has paid out nearly $5,000,000 in relief to 
members and their families. Membership, 
which is restricted to Israelites, is scattered 
through twenty-one States of the L T niou. 
Past Grand Master Julius Harburger and 
Grand Master M. L. Seixas are prominent 
among those in recent years who have had 
much to do with building up the Order. 
(See Independent Order American Israel- 
ites.) 

Independent Order of Free Sons of 
Judah. — Founded by Rev. Dr. AVechsler 
at New York city in 1890 to pay $500 to 
beneficiaries of deceased members, and $6 a 
week sick benefits for thirteen weeks in any 
one year, by means of mutual assessments. 
Hebrews only, both men and women, are 
eligible to membership, meeting in separate 
Lodges. Total membership is about 3,500, 
nearly one-half being women. More than 



$30,000 have been paid for sick and death 
benefits. Its emblem is the lion of the tribe 
of Judah. 

Kesher Shel Barzel. — A charitable and 
benevolent mutual assessment Hebrew bene- 
ficiary society, having a branch for women. 
It has paid about $2,000,000 for the relief 
of members and their families during the 
past thirty-six years. The emblem includes 
the All-seeing Eye and the ark, below which 
are three Hebrew characters. Its ritual is 
based upon the history of Noah, Abraham, 
and Isaac. Headquarters are at New York 
city, where it was founded in 1860, and the 
total membership is about 6,000. 

Order of B'rith Abraham. — A charita- 
ble and benevolent Hebrew society founded 
at New York city in 1859 by Oscar Wiener 
of Newark, N. J., Leonard Leisersohn of 
New York city, and others, in part along 
lines laid down by the Independent Order 
B'nai B'rith (1843) and the Independent 
Order Free Sons of Israel (1849), to pro- 
vide, by means of assessments, for sick and 
distressed members, for widows and orphans, 
and to educate members to become worthy 
citizens of the United States. Like all sim- 
ilar Hebrew organizations, it embodies some 
of the features of Freemasonry. Its em- 
blem is the interlaced double triangle and a 
representation of Abraham about to offer 
up his son Isaac as a sacrifice. Its member- 
ship is restricted to reformed Jews, those 
classed as not orthodox. Its ceremonial of 
initiation is calculated to emphasize the 
meaning of harmony, wisdom, and justice. 
It pays both sick and death benefits, and 
has expended for the relief of members and 
their families since the date of foundation 
nearly $2,000,000. Lodges for women, rela- 
tives of members of the Order, are formed 
with the sanction of the Grand Lodge, and 
may elect Past Presidents of men's Lodges 
to act as officers. There are more than 160 
Lodges of the Order of B'rith Abraham in 
the United States, three-fifths of which, 
with 8,000 members, are in New York 
city. The total membership exceeds 11,000, 



210 



INDEPENDENT ORDER OF SONS OF ABRAHAM 



exclusive of about 1,000 members of women's 
Lodges. (See Independent Order, Sons of 
Benjamin ; Abavas Israel, and the Inde- 
pendent Order of Sons of Abraham.) 

Independent Order of Sons of Abra- 
ham. — Founded at New York city in 
1892 by Berman Bonner, Osias Dulberger, 
Mayer Moscowitz and others of New York, 
members, variously, of the Masonic Fra- 
ternity, the Sons of Benjamin, and the 
Order of B'rith Abraham, as a charitable 
and benevolent Hebrew beneficiary society 
paying death and sick benefits by means 
of mutual assessments. The membership, 
which is almost exclusively in New York 
city and Brooklyn, numbers about 2,400, 
including almost an equal number of men 
and women. 

Independent Order of Sons of Benja- 
min. — A charitable and beneficiary mutual 
assessment Hebrew society, founded at New 



York city in 1877 by William Heller, Adolph 
Silberstein, Abraham Kayser, members of 
the Order B'rith Abraham, and others. It 
spread rapidly to many of the principal 
cities of the United States and into the Do- 
minion of Canada, and of late years, under 
the Grand Mastership of Ferdinand Levy of 
New York, has achieved a marked degree of 
prosperity. It preserves the usual secret 
society forms, ceremonies, and privileges, 
and has expended about $2,000,000 for the 
relief of members and their families. It 
authorizes the formation of Lodges exclu- 
sively for women, of which there are about 
twenty. Its emblem presents a triangle be- 
tween the letters F and P, with the letter L 
in its centre. There are about 18,000 mem- 
bers, exclusive of about 2,500 women in 
Lodges set apart for them. (See Ahavas 
Israel, Sons of Abraham, also American 
Israelites.) 



ANCIENT ORDER OF HIBERNIANS 



211 



EOMAIST CATHOLIC ASSESSMENT BENEFICIAET 

FRATERNITIES 



Ancient Order of Hibernians. — A se- 
cret or semi-secret patriotic, religious, and 
beneficiary (friendly) society, paying relief, 
burial, and sick benefits, to which only men 
who are of Irish birth or descent, practi- 
cal Roman Catholics, are eligible. It was 
founded in Ireland, in the last century, for 
the protection of its members in their right 
to worship God after the forms of the Bo- 
man Catholic Church, to cherish Irish na- 
tional traditions and the names of illustri- 
ous sons of Ireland, and to care for its sick 
and distressed members and their families. 
The events which led to the formation of 
the society are thus referred to by P. J. 
O'Connor, Savannah, Ga., a prominent offi- 
cial of the organization in the United States 
in 1897: 

In 1691 Patrick Sarsfield evacuated Limerick, 
Ireland, and agreed to depart to foreign shores, 
leaving his people, however, protected by a treaty 
signed by William of Orange, King of England. 
That treaty guaranteed, among other things, per- 
fect freedom of religious opinions, and accepted the 
claim of Ireland to a nationality and form of gov- 
ernment distinct and separate from that of England, 
though forcing the acknowledgment of William as 
King of Ireland. The treaty was broken shortly 
after, and the Irish people were by legal enactment 
forbidden to study a profession, learn a trade, or 
even to acquire a knowledge of the alphabet. For 
years no edifice for Catholic worship was allowed 
to exist and a price was put upon the head of the 
Catholic priest and the schoolmaster. Realizing 
the folly of open resistance, the Catholic Irish re- 
solved themselves into secret bands for the preser- 
vation of their religion and nationality, and in later 
days organized the Ancient Order of Hibernians. 

All efforts by the writer to learn even the 
approximate date of the founding of the 
Ancient Order of Hibernians as a secret so- 
ciety have failed, more than a score of the 



leading officials in the United States having 
confessed their lack of information on that 
point. The foregoing extract from a letter 
from National President O'Connor makes 
sufficiently plain the reasons why the Order 
was organized. But it may well be doubted 
whether it met in lodges, with systematized 
private means of recognition, a ritual, an 
initiatory ceremony, lectures, and the like, 
modelled (but not copied) after those of the 
Freemasons and the Odd Fellows, until after 
it was introduced into the United States. 
This view is enforced because those portions 
of the so-called work of the Ancient Order 
of Hibernians which have been made public 
in whole or in part, give evidence of having 
come after the founding of the Loyal Orange 
Association in 1797-98 and the public dis- 
cussion of secret society ceremonials inciden- 
tal to the anti-Masonic agitation of 1827-40. 
Secret societies were not tolerated by the 
British Government late in the last and 
early in the present century, with the ex- 
ception of the Masonic Fraternity. The 
Odd Fellows, Druids, and Foresters had 
difficulty in preserving their identities from 
1780 to 1810, and the Orange Association 
did so mainly through the help of Free- 
masons, from whom it acquired some of 
the outward Masonic forms and peculiari- 
ties. If one may presume that the Ancient 
Order of Hibernians, in something like 
its present form, appeared between 1836 
and 1845, its ceremonials, emblems, lec- 
tures, examinations, toasts, etc., are easily 
explained on the basis of what had gone be- 
fore. To imagine that they were originated 
in the eighteenth century, and that other 
secret societies borrowed them from the 
Hibernians is out of the question. The Or- 



212 



ANCIENT ORDER OF HIBERNIANS 



der was introduced into the United States 
at New York city in 1836, one hundred and 
six years after Freemasonry had been estab- 
lished in this country, seventeen years after 
Odd Fellowship was founded at Baltimore, 
six years after the -United Order of Druids 
had found its way here from England, and 
about two years after the Improved Order 
of Eed Men, as at present organized, had 
been placed upon its feet at Baltimore. 
With its advent its characteristics changed 
somewhat. Its motto now is Friendship, 
Unity, and True Christian Charity to its 
members, and peace and good will to all 
men; and its objects, other than the paying 
of relief and death benefits, are the advance- 
ment of the Eoman Catholic religion, "the 
encouragement of the country's welfare, 
the promotion of the sacred cause of Irish 
nationality, and the propagation of the prin- 
ciples embodied in the motto." Lodges are 
found in the United Kingdom and Ireland 
and in the United States, where (until 1884) 
they were governed by a Board of Erin se- 
lected from representatives of higher bodies 
in the United Kingdom and Ireland, by 
whom signs and passwords were selected and 
communicated to members on both sides of 
the Atlantic. 

The National officers in the United States 
(prior to 1884) were the National Delegate, 
Secretary and Treasurer, and the President 
of the Board of the City and County of New 
York. After these ranked the State and 
County Delegates, and then the chief offi- 
cers of Lodges, called Body Masters. In 
1873 there were 6,000 Lodges of the Order 
in this country with about 150,000 mem- 
bers. Emblems of the Order include the 
clasped hands, the harp, and the shamrock, 
and the three links which have so long been 
identified with Odd Fellowship, but which 
parallel the triangle and form one of the 
most ancient symbols of the Trinity. In 
1884 the society in the United States suf- 
fered from schism, the smaller branch tak- 
ing the title Ancient Order of Hibernians, 
Board of Erin, and remaining in affiliation 



with the Order abroad, while the larger 
number reorganized as the Ancient Order 
of Hibernians of America. In 1897, when 
efforts were made looking to reunion, the 
Board of Erin in America claimed about 
40,000 members, most of them in New 
York, New Jersey, Ohio, Michigan, and 
Illinois ; the Ancient Order of America, 
about 125,000, scattered through nearly all 
the States of the Union, and the Order in 
the United Kingdom and Ireland, about 
50,000; in all, 215,000 members. The two 
branches in America finally reunited in 1898. 
In July, 1896, the report of the National 
Secretary of the American branch showed 
disbursements for sick benefits within a year 
amounting to $345,768; for burial expenses, 
$86,025; and $239,838 for charitable and 
other purposes, with a balance of $545,211 
in the division treasuries. ' 
1 A women's auxiliary to the American 
Order was organized in 1894, known as the 
Daughters of Erin, and has since been 
authorized by the Order to work in conjunc- 
tion with it. The Daughters are recruited 
from among relatives of members of the 
Ancient Order of Hibernians, \ and num- 
bered in 1897 about 20,000. Their purpose 
is to assist the Ancient Order of Hibernians 
in perpetuating the memory of their fore- 
fathers, in promoting love for the mother 
church and country, in aiding sick and dis- 
tressed widows and orphans, and to find 
them homes and employment. 

Any historical sketch of the history of the 
Ancient Order of Hibernians in America 
without a reference to its temporary degra- 
dation by unworthy members (1865-75) 
would be as unfair to the public as to the 
Order. During the period mentioned the 
society was used by men, who afterward 
turned out to be Molly Maguires, as a cloak 
for the commission of crime. (See Molly 
Maguires.) While every member of the 
Order of Hibernians in the Pennsylvania 
anthracite coal regions at that time was not 
a Molly, practically every Molly belonged 
to the Hibernians. The good character of 



CATHOLIC BENEVOLENT LEGION 



213 



the Order without the coal regions, even 
then, was not called in question, but so com- 
pletely was it dominated by the Mollies in 
some counties of Pennsylvania, that for a 
few years it became, locally, a machine for 
the encouragement of crime and the protec- 
tion of criminals. With the breaking up of 
the Molly Maguires came the reorganization 
of the Ancient Order of Hibernians in the 
coal regions, and its benevolent, moral, fra- 
ternal, and religious professions again re- 
asserted themselves. The society stands 
to-day among the foremost in its class. 

Catholic Benevolent Legion. — Organ- 
ized in Brooklyn, September 5, 1881, by 
Dr. George R. Kuhn, with whom were as- 
sociated John D. Carroll, John C. McGuire, 
John D. Keiley, John Rooney, Patrick F. 
Keany, Robert Myhan, Thomas Cassin, Da- 
vid T. Leahy, William G. Ross, and James 
H. Breen, as a fraternal beneficiary society, 
to which Roman Catholic laymen between 
the ages of eighteen and fifty-five years are 
eligible, and to afford facilities for intel- 
lectual improvement, social advancement, 
and material prosperity. It pays death 
benefits of $500, $1,000, $2,000, $3,000, 
$4,000, and $5,000, by means of assessments 
graded according to the ages of members 
when joining, and is governed by Supreme 
Councils, to which State Councils are sub- 
ordinate, which, in turn, regulate more tl>an 
600 subordinate Councils in nearly every 
State in the Union. Within the past sixteen 
years the Legion has paid out more than 
$7,000,000 to beneficiaries. Its plan is to 
give insurance as nearly at cost as possible, 
without the aid of a reserve fund. The 
growth of the organization has been more 
rapid than that of any other of the various 
Roman Catholic benevolent societies, in- 
creasing from 134 members in the first year 
of its existence to neary 900 within one 
year, to 3,000 at the close of 1883, two 
years after it had been incorporated under 
the laws of the State of New York, and to 
nearly 10,000 at the end of 1886, five years 
after it was founded. The total member- 



ship in 1890 had jumped to 23,553, an 
increase of nearly 150 per cent, within five 
years, and at the close of 1896 the increase 
as compared with ten years before was five- 
fold. The Supreme Council is composed 
or representatives from the several State 
Councils, and ten of the incorporators who 
shall continue in good standing in the 
Councils to which they belong. State 
Councils, after the first year, are composed 
of its officers only, who are elected from 
among representatives from subordinate 
Councils. State Councils send one repre- 
sentative each to the Supreme Council, and 
one more when their membership exceeds 
2,500, and one in addition for every addi- 
tional 5,000 members. Only one subordi- 
nate Council is permitted in each parish or 
congregation. Sick and disability benefits 
are paid by subordinate Councils from 
initiation fees and dues. A distinction be- 
tween this and some other similar Catholic 
societies is that it also invites to its ranks 
men who are merely nominal Catholics, if 
their lives and conduct be otherwise com- 
mendable, without exacting promises to 
perform religious duties as a requisite to 
membership. This is in the hope of saving 
thousands of little children from becoming 
charges on charitable institutions or de- 
pending upon the charity of the world at 
large. A strict physical examination is re- 
quired from all applying for admission. Its 
emblems and inspiring cardinal virtues are 
Faith, Hope, and Charity, and, as its name 
implies, its design and scope are to be cath- 
olic and benevolent. It is classed, upon 
the authority of representative members, 
among secret societies ; but, as explained, 
" has no ulterior objects beyond those pub- 
licly announced." 

In the official publication of the Order it 
is pointed out that it was difficult to secure 
Roman Catholics to join the Royal Arca- 
num and American Legion of Honor " be- 
cause no assurance could be given that the 
societies might not be prohibited by eccle- 
siastical authority. That they apparently 



314 



CATHOLIC KNIGHTS OF AMERICA 



merited no condemnation, but deserved 
the support and encouragement of all good 
citizens was no assurance that their pur- 
poses would not be misinterpreted in some 
localities, for in those days before the late 
plenary council every pastor exercised the 
authority of condemning societies that did 
not size up to his individual opinion of per- 
fection. Indeed a case just then occurred 
in the city of Brooklyn, where a member 
of the Arcanum, who having taken sick 
and sent for the priest, was required to 
abandon his insurance and all connection 
with that society. It was under such con- 
ditions that the work of creating and build- 
ing up a great fraternal association of Bo- 
man Catholics was undertaken by Dr. Kuhn 
and his associates. The ritual of the Le- 
gion refers to the sacrifices for the relief of 
others made by St. Vincent de Paul, St. 
Dominic, and others. Its badge displays 
upon a passion cross a band containing the 
name of the Order, a heart and an anchor. 
Catholic Knights of America. — This 
Eoman Catholic fraternal beneficiary so- 
ciety makes the special plea that it is not a 
secret society in any sense, in which it dif- 
fers from some other similar organizations. 
It was founded in 1877, and the statement 
is volunteered that none of the organizers 
were members of any of the secret beneficiary 
orders which preceded it. Among its found- 
ers were B. L. Spalding, W. B. Dalton, J. J. 
(KRourke, D. H. Leonard, and W.Nehemiah 
Webb. Its membership is confined to the 
United States, and it has paid out for sick 
and death benefits more than $7,000,000. 
The society is largely identified with the 
West and South, though its Lodges are 
found in many States of the Union. The 
total membership is about twenty-five thou- 
sand, and though it is not the largest among 
the various Eoman Catholic organizations of 
like character, it has been prominent in urg- 
ing the amalgamation of Catholic fraternal 
societies, by having them "consolidate with 
the Catholic Knights of America/' It 
caters to the military idea, which has been 



so popular among beneficiary societies, by 
organizing a uniformed rank, with special 
tactics and drill. Among its members are 
Edward Feeney of Brooklyn, K Y., a mem- 
ber of the Grand Army of the Eepublic, a 
secret military organization, and promi- 
nently identified with newspaper work in 
New York city and Brooklyn. He Was at 
one time a member of the New York State 
Board of Mediation and Arbitration. Will- 
iam Purcell, editor of the Rochester " Union 
and Advertiser," is also a member. When 
the Catholic Knights met in convention at 
Omaha in 1895, they were addressed, among 
others, by Most Eeverend Archbishop Gross, 
who said, in part, as follows : "You are to 
remember it well, Catholic Knights of Amer- 
ica, not of France, or Germany, or Ireland, 
or Spain, or Italy ; either you are natives of 
this great republic, or you gave up all alle- 
giance to the land of your birth and have 
sworn solemn allegiance to the Constitution. 
Be true to your country. Unless you wish 
the downfall of your society, vote not for a 
candidate because he is German, or Irish, or 
French, or belongs to any nationality, but 
vote for him who is, as you know, a staunch 
and true upholder of the Constitution of 
the United States of America." He added : 
" If you, my Catholic brothers, are what 
you should be, and I doubt not but you are 
loyal and true, you will render useless the 
existence of all secret societies, and we have 
but one answer to give all those who speak to 
us about joining any society ; namely, join 
the Catholic Knights of America, that noble 
band of Catholic Knights. They have all 
the advantages and insurance of other socie- 
ties, and have no secrecy, for that which is 
honorable and pure loves not darkness." 
The banner of this Order is the blazing 
cross, In Hoc Signo Vinces, "the cross and 
the flag, the stars and stripes." 

Catholic Knights of Illinois. — Organ- 
ized at Carlyle, 111., and incorporated in 
1884, to unite fraternally all practical Eo- 
man Catholics, men and women, between 
eighteen and fifty years of age, to give them 



CATHOLIC ORDER OF FORESTERS OF ILLINOIS 



215 



moral and material aid, encourage them in 
business, assist them in obtaining employ- 
ment, give their children a Christian educa- 
tion, and give them ' ' cheap life insurance 
without the danger of going into associa-^ 
tions or orders forbidden by our Holy 
Mother the Church." Benefit certificates 
of $500, $1,000, and $2,000 are issued to 
men, and of from $100 to $1,000 to women, 
which are met by a graded system of assess- 
ments. The Order does business in the 
State of Illinois only. The amount of ben- 
efits paid in twelve years was about $150,- 
000. Its present membership is about 
2,000. 

Catholic Mutual Benefit Association. 
— Organized at Niagara Falls, in July, 
1876, and incorporated under the laws of 
the State of New York, June 9, 1879. A 
fraternal beneficiary society, to which only 
men, practical Catholics, between the ages 
of eighteen and fifty years, are eligible 
for membership. It issues certificates, 
payable at the death of members, in the 
amounts of $500, $1,000, and $2,000, which 
are paid by means of assessments graded 
according to the age of the member when 
joining. This is one of a number of Roman 
Catholic associations of similar character, 
which have been provided by that religious 
denomination to afford an opportunity for 
members of that faith to participate in 
mutual benefit association privileges with- 
out joining like societies which have been 
condemned by that church. The order 
was the outcome of a suggestion by the late 
Rt. Rev. S. V. Ryan, Bishop of Buffalo. 
Subordinate bodies or lodges are governed 
by Grand Councils, which have charge of 
the affairs of the order in the States, which, 
in turn, are controlled by the Supreme 
Council, which meets biennially. The or- 
ganization has disbursed $6,000,000 in sick 
and death benefits since it was founded, 
and numbers about 45,000 members. Its 
headquarters are at Brooklyn, N. Y. 

Catholic Order of Foresters of Illinois. 
— The formation of the Catholic Order of 



Foresters at Chicago was suggested by a Mr. 
Taylor, a shoemaker, with whom John F. 
Scanlan, Michael B. Bailey, John K. dow- 
ry, Patrick Keane, John J. Collins, and 
Francis W. Fitz-Gerald cooperated. The 
Order was organized at Chicago, in 1883, 
about four years after the secession of the 
Independent Order of Foresters of Illinois 
from the Independent Order of Foresters, 
by a member of the Massachusetts Catholic 
Order of Foresters and a number of Roman 
Catholics, members of the Illinois Order of 
Foresters, and because of the well-known 
desire of the Roman Catholic Church to 
have those of the faith, who wish to join 
institutions of this character, select those 
which recognize and cooperate with the 
Church. The Catholic Order also drew 
some of its members from the Independent 
Order. The former has no connection or 
affiliation with any other Order of Forestry, 
though it employs similar insignia and em- 
blems, lias a ritual modelled upon the Robin 
Hood legend, and a system of government 
like those of other and older Forestic Or- 
ders. In one of its leaflets it states : " Unity 
through Catholic organizations is one of 
the great instruments in perpetuating and 
spreading the truths of the Church/' From 
this it is plain that only members of the 
Catholic Church are eligible to member- 
ship. The Catholic Order confines its 
activity principally to the northwestern 
States of the Union and to the Canadian 
Dominion. It pays endowment, sick, and 
funeral benefits by means of assessments, 
and within the past fourteen years has ex- 
pended $1,500,000 in that direction. Its 
growth has been rapid, comparing favor- 
ably with many assessment mutual benefit 
secret societies of equal age. It numbers 
more than 45,000 members. On December 
31, 1896, its 627 Courts were distributed 
throughout Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Min- 
nesota, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Vermont, 
New Hampshire, and the provinces of 
Ontario and Quebec. One of its features 
is the Side Rank. All members do not 



216 



CATHOLIC WOMEN'S BENEVOLENT LEGION 



belong to it. Its mission is to furnish 
amusement after the heavy work of con- 
ventions. The work of the Side Eank re- 
quires a complete set of paraphernalia and 
includes elaborate ceremonies. This fea- 
ture of the Order was originated by Thomas 
Callen. ] 

Catholic Women's Benevolent Le- 
gion. — A beneficiary association incorpo- 
rated under the laws of the State of New 
York, August 23, 1895, restricted to ac- 
ceptable Roman Catholic women in sound 
health, between seventeen and fifty-five 
years of age at time of joining. J Its design 
is to have a subordinate Council in every 
Roman Catholic congregation in the United 
-States, to be a centre for social, intellectual, 
and moral improvement of its members. 
Local Councils secure revenue by means of 
quarterly dues and from proposition fees. 
Provision is also made for a representative 
government by State Councils and in the 
Supreme Council. Members are insured 
for $250, $500, $1,000, and $2,000, which 
amounts are secured by assessments graded 
according to age at joining. The Legion 
is yet in its infancy, but it has secured the 
approbation of ecclesiastical authorities, 
and has established more than one hun- 
dred subordinate branches with 4,000 mem- 
bers. 

The names of leading members of the 
Supreme Council in 1897 are as follows : 
Supreme President, Mrs. Mary A. Murray, 
Brooklyn, N. Y. ; Supreme Secretary, Miss 
Annie O'Conner ; Supreme Treasurer, Miss 
Mary J. Hughes, both of New York ; Su- 
preme Orator, Mrs. Katie Coleman, Jersey 
City, N. J., and Supreme Guard, Mrs. 
Mary A. M. Trainer, Baltimore, Md. 

Irish Catholic Benevolent Union. — 
Founded by Dennis Dwyer of Dayton, O., 
in 1869, an assessment fraternal beneficiary 
society, composed of Irish Roman Catholics, 
of the semi-secret character confessed by 
like associations, to which only members of 
the Roman Catholic faith are eligible. It 
has disbursed about $3,000,000 in death 



and sick benefits, and has about 17,000 
members. The secretary's address is Phil- 
adelphia, Penn. 

Knights of Colnmbus. — Organized in 
New Haven, Conn., March 29, 1882, and 
incorporated under the laws of that State, 
by Michael J. McGivny, Matthew C. 
O'Connell, Cornelius T. Driscoll, James 
T. Mullen, John T. Kerrigan, Daniel Col- 
well, William M. Geary, and others. Its- 
objects are to promote social and intellec- 
tual intercourse among its members and to 
render pecuniary aid to them and their 
beneficiaries. Men only, of the Roman 
Catholic faith, between eighteen and forty- 
five years of age, are eligible to membership. 
Death benefits of from $1,000 to $3,000 are 
a feature of the organization. Sick bene- 
fits are optional with local Councils. The 
Order made rapid progress in Connecticut 
and Rhode Island, but did not enlarge its 
field of labor until 1892, when the first 
Council in Massachusetts was instituted at 
Charlestown. Its progress in Massachu- 
setts from 1892 to 1897 was remarkable, 
there being more than one hundred flour- 
ishing Councils in that State, with about 
10,000 members out of about 35,000 mem- 
bers throughout the country. The Order 
has been extended west to Chicago, east to 
Bangor, Me., and south to Baltimore and 
Washington. There is a social side be- 
yond that of insurance, by which men who 
do not care to be insured, or who are phys- 
ically unable to pass the required examina- 
tion may become members. By means of 
this, a man who is otherwise eligible, or 
more than 45 years of age, may become a 
member and enjoy the social privileges of 
the order. The headquarters of the soci- 
ety are at New Haven, where the Supreme 
Knight and Board of Directors meet every 
Saturday for the transaction of business. 
The Supreme Knight is elected by national 
delegates chosen by State conventions. 
The latter also elect State deputies, who 
appoint district deputies, and hold office 
for one year. The emblem of these Knights 



ST. PATRICK'S ALLIANCE OF AMERICA 



217 



is an eight-cornered cross, ornamented with 
representations of a compass, dagger, an- 
chor and vessel, having reference to the 
voyage of Columbus in 1492. 

Kniglits of Father Mathew. — One of 
the smaller Roman Catholic fraternal 
beneficiary semi-secret societies. Its total 
membership is about 3,000, the larger pro- 
portion of which is in the central Western 
and Western States. The Order has paid 
out $250,000 in sick and death benefits 
since it was founded. Leading officials in 
its Supreme Council reside at St. Louis 
and Kansas City. 

Kniglits of St. Rose — See Massachu- 
setts Catholic Order of Foresters. 

Massachusetts Catholic Order of For- 
esters — Founded at Boston in 1879, at the 
period which gave rise to the Forestic schisms 
entitled the Canadian Order, and the Inde- 
pendent Order of Illinois (see Foresters of 
America), in part through a desire to secure 
local self-government and in part because 
pf the dominance of Eoman Catholic influ- 
ence among Massachusetts Foresters and a 
desire of those of that religious faith to place 
the control of the society in that State in 
the hands of their own religious faith. 
The motto of this branch of the group 
of American bodies of Foresters is " Frater- 
nity, Unity and True Christian Charity,'' 
and its standard displays the Eoman cross 
upon a shield. The Knights of St. Rose 
was originated by members of the Massa- 
chusetts Order of Foresters in 1889 and 



adopted as its second degree. It has a 
separate insurance beneficiary fund and 
admits both men and women to membership. 
(See Catholic Order of Foresters of Illinois.) 
St. Patrick's Alliance of America. 
— Organized in 1868 by members of the 
Friendly Sons of St. Patrick and others, a 
benevolent and charitable secret society for 
men, most of whom are Eoman Catholics. 
It pays sick and death benefits, and a 
funeral benefit of $75 at the death of a 
member's wife. It has paid altogether 
about $1,750,000 in benefits. Its ritual is 
based upon the right of every man to wor- 
ship God according to the dictates of his 
own conscience and denounces bigotry 
coming from any source whatever. The 
more frequently displayed emblem is a disk 
bearing the initial letters of the title of 
the society, S. P. A. of A., and a represen- 
tation of a tree, referring to the "tree of 
life." There are more than 50,000 mem- 
bers of the Alliance in New England, 
Middle, Pacific Coast, and some other States. 
The office of the National Secretary is at 
Newark, X. J. St. Patrick's Alliance, 
while an offspring of the Friendly Sons of 
St. Patrick, admits haviug drawn inspira- 
tion from the Foresters and other like or- 
ders. There is no religious or political 
test of membership, as the National Sec- 
retary writes: "We have Democrats and 
Eepublicans and Catholics and Protestants, 
among our members, but they must be Irish 
or of Irish descent. 



-43 




218 



ACTORS' ORDER OF FRIENDSHIP 



VI 



CHAEITABLE AND BEK"EVOLEISrT, NON-ASSESSMENT 
OR "FRIENDLY" SOCIETIES 



Actors' Order of Friendship. — A ben- 
eficiary and charitable association composed 
of actors of not less than three years' experi- 
ence, organized in Philadelphia, January 
12, 1849, where the first Lodge, " Shakes- 
peare, No. 1," still continues. In 1888 the 
more progressive and energetic members of 
the Order then residing in New York, 
realizing that the changed condition of af- 
fairs in the theatrical world made the me- 
tropolis the natural headquarters of the 
drama, met and organized Edwin For- 
rest Lodge, No. 2, the first officers of which 
were, President, Louis Aldrich ; Vice-Pres- 
ident, Frank G-. Cotter ; Secretary, Archi- 
bald Cowper, and Treasurer, Frank W. 
Sanger. Under this leadership the list of 
members rapidly increased, until the roll 
carried the names of nearly every important 
actor in America, from Edwin Booth down 
to the humblest aspirant on the first rung 
of the ladder of fame. In material pros- 
perity Edwin Forrest Lodge has exceeded 
the expectations of its most sanguine pro- 
jectors. During the nine years of its exist- 
ence, not only has it met every obligation 
promptly, but has accumulated assets valued 
at more than eighteen thousand dollars. 
In 1895 it acquired the property at 166 
West 47th Street, New York city, which 
it has altered and adapted to its purposes, 
fitting up handsome reception and lodge 
rooms, on the walls of which hang many 
portraits, old play bills, and other reminders 
of the stage celebrities of the past and pres- 
ent. Here are to be seen the programme 
of Edwin Forrest's first appearance on the 
stage, November 27, 1820, when, in his fif- 
teenth year, a "young gentleman of this 
city " (Philadelphia), he played " Young 



Norval " in Rev. John Home's tragedy of 
"Douglas;" the crown worn by him as 
" Macbeth," and the shackles used by 
J. W. Wallack, Jr., as " Fagin," together 
with other interesting mementos. A hand- 
some bookcase filled with rare volumes, pre- 
sented by Joseph Jefferson, a member of 
the Order and its first Treasurer, adorns the 
Lodge room. The Actors' Order of Friend- 
ship is the oldest, as it is the most influen- 
tial of all the various theatrical organiza- 
tions. Charitable as well as beneficial, it 
moves quietly on in its conservative way, 
gaining strength as the years roll by, dis- 
pensing with a liberal but judicious hand, 
to many without as well as those within 
its pale. A friend, a protector, a faithful 
monitor, it cordially invites all to enter its 
fold whose years of service entitle them to 
its manifold advantages. 

Ancient and Illustrious Order, 
Knights of Malta. — Formed and incor- 
porated early in 1884, the outcome of a 
schism, late in 1883, from the Grand Priory 
of America, Ancient and Illustrious Order, 
Knights of Malta, which, in turn, resulted 
from a rebellion, in 1882-83, from the Chap- 
ter General of America, Knights of St. John 
and Malta. The latter was the Supreme body 
in America, under a warrant from the Im- 
perial Parent, Grand Black Encampment 
of the Universe, at Glasgow, Scotland, but 
withdrew from the latter in 1881, because it 
was not permitted to confine its secret work 
to the ancient Malta orders, and because it 
insisted on discarding the Orange and 
nominally Masonic degrees which the Im- 
perial Parent conferred. lasonic 
Orders of Malta ; Knights of St. John and 
Malta (modern); and I of St. 



ANCIENT AND ILLUSTRIOUS ORDER, KNIGHTS OF MALTA 



219 



John of Jerusalem, Rhodes, Malta, etc.) The 
Grand Priory of America, with George G. 
Cheesman at its head, was formed at Phila- 
delphia, from six schismatic bodies of the 
Chapter General of America, February 26*. 
1883, but it did not last long. The Im- 
perial Parent was responsible for the organi- 
zation of the Grand Priory, and in 1884 
transferred the authority delegated to Chees- 
man to a Continental Grand Priory. On 
February 7, 1884, a notice was published in 
the Philadelphia " Protestant Standard " 
of the existence of a Grand Encampment, 
Ancient and Illustrious Order of Knights of 
Malta — which, as announced, consisted of 
Constantine Commandery, No. 1, which 
met in a certain hall on such and such 
evenings. One week later it was similarly 
announced that the Grand Commandery in 
question had celebrated the investment of its 
incorporate body by instituting a new Com- 
mandery, again Constantine, No. 1, meet- 
ing at the same hall and on the same nights. 
The same paper also contained a commu- 
nication that the warrant of Constantine 
Commandery, No. 34, Ancient and Illustri- 
ous Order, Knights of Malta, had been 
cancelled by the Grand Priory of America 
in January, 1884, about one month before, 
and that its four principal officers, who 
were prominent in organizing the new 
Grand Commandery, had been expelled. 
Hence the inference is that the new Grand 
Commandery, Ancient and Illustrious Order, 
Knights of Malta, was a self -created body, 
an outcome from the Grand Priory of 
America. In 1888 the Grand Commandery, 
which had slowly added to its membership, 
offered to unite with the Imperial Parent, 
of Glasgow, Scotland ; and the latter, faith- 
ful to its Sovereign Grand Inspector Gen- 
eral for America, George G. Cheesman, at 
the head of the Grand Priory of America, 
authorized the latter to negotiate with the 
then independent, and, if one pleases, ir- 
regular Order of Malta, looking to union. 
Cheesman delegated his authority to Robert 
Stewart, who, in 1889, met representatives 



of the Grand Commandery, and, so far as is 
learned, straightway proceeded to Scotland 
and secured the recognition of the Imperial 
Parent for the Grand Commandery. Thus 
the Glasgow body was recognizing two in- 
dependent Supreme organizations in Amer- 
ica : the one last referred to and the Grand 
Priory of which Cheesman was the head. 
With the chartering of the Grand Com- 
mandery, the Grand Priory began to decline, 
and has practically ceased to exist, although 
its charter from the Imperial Parent, so far 
as known, has never been recalled and may 
become useful to degree peddlers to spring 
another " Order of Malta" upon the com- 
munity. In fact, there were rumors from 
Columbus, 0., in the summer of 1897, that 
a new Order of Malta was about to be 
launched upon the sea of fraternities, but 
whether based upon the old Grand Priory 
charter, or not, is not known. The repre- 
sentatives of the existing Ancient and Illus- 
trious Order, Knights of Malta, state that 
Charles McClintock and George H. Pearce 
of Philadelphia, Orangemen and Free- 
masons, and the latter an Odd Fellow as 
well, are the founders of the organization. 
The name of the former is linked with the 
schism from the Grand Priory in 1883. 

The Order is declared to be designed to 
unite men under the most binding forms, 
"to comfort one another in the practice of 
Christian religion, to offer mutual assistance 
in the time of need, to promote Protestant 
unity, and to defend the Protestant faith 
against all foes whatsoever." It is also said 
to be the staunch defender of civil and re- 
ligious liberty. " While opposing all forms 
of error and superstition, it nevertheless 
teaches and exercises the fullest tolerance 
and charity toward all men, being incapable, 
from the nature of its constitution and of 
the religion in whose interest it has been 
perpetuated, of oppressing any man or body 
of men on account of religious or political 
belief. ... It demands as the sole 
qualification for membership, purity of 
morals, zeal for the Protestant cause, faith 



220 



ANCIENT AND ILLUSTRIOUS ORDER, KNIGHTS OF MALTA 



in the Holy Scriptures as the infallible rule 
of faith and life, belief in the Holy Trinity 
as expressed in the Apostles' Creed, and 
reliance upon Christ as the only Mediator." 
Its prospectus " calls, therefore, upon all 
Protestants, by whatever name known, who 
love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity and 
in truth, to enlist under its banners and to 
take their part in the religious regeneration 
of the world. With Protestantism aroused 
and faith kindled, our religion would sweep 
the nations, to the utter destruction of 
every form of error and superstition. May 
the Lord hasten the day and grant the 
speedy coming of His Kingdom." The 
printed leaflets of the Order also contain 
the doubtful statement that "the Ancient 
and Illustrious Order, Knights of Malta, 
confers the old degrees exactly as they have 
been given for ages throughout Europe and 
the Orient, imposes the same solemn and 
binding obligations, and is composed solely 
of Protestants." As the Ancient and Illus- 
trious Order confers twelve degrees, some 
of them of Orange origin and some not 
known to the Ancient Knights of Malta, 
and as the latter did not confer degrees at 
all and was not a secret Order, a mistake 
has evidently been made. (See (Ancient) 
Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, Rhodes, 
Malta, etc., and Non-Masonic Orders of 
Malta in America.) There is evidence 
that the Ancient and Illustrious Order, etc., 
has no affiliation whatever with the revived 
ancient Order of Malta in England, the 
Sixth or English Language, the headquar- 
ters of which is at Clerkenwell and of which 
the Prince of Wales is the head ; with the 
Brandenburg Order, and naturally not with 
the Italian (Roman Catholic) Order. Its sole 
relationship must be confined to the Scotch, 
Irish, and American bodies chartered by the 
Imperial Parent at Glasgow, a body of in- 
dependent origin, with Orange and Masonic 
earmarks, which made its appearance in 
Scotland in 1844. There is undoubtedly 
much in the Ancient and Illustrious Order 
to commend it, but there are no links 



to connect it with the ancient Order of 
Malta beyond a portion of its title. 

Following in the footsteps of modern 
fraternal beneficiary societies, the Order 
has a system of death and sick benefits, 
which, in almost all instances, are moderate 
in amount and are said to be paid from 
dues instead of assessments. In 1895, ac- 
cording to published accounts, it recog- 
nized and incorporated an organization 
within itself, entitled the College of An- 
cients, a series of "degrees of merit." 
(See Knights of St. John and Malta.) 
George G. Cheesman, at the head of the 
Grand Priory, the parent of the existing 
Ancient and Illustrious Order, had been a 
member of the College of Ancients designed 
and created by Robert E. A. Land of the 
Knights of St. John and Malta, and at his 
own request was authorized by the Imperial 
Parent to establish an Order of Merit of 
the Ancient and Most Illustrious Order of 
the Great Cross (instead of Grand Cross, as 
in the Knights of St. John and Malta) of 
Malta and St. John of Jerusalem, and in 
December, 1886, a Supreme Council of the 
Great Cross was instituted. In the same 
year the Imperial Parent empowered Chees- 
man to merge the Continental Grand Priory 
in the Supreme Council of the Great Cross. 
In 1885 an Order of the Great Cross was 
taken to Scotland by Robert Stewart, adopted 
by the Grand Black Encampment and by 
it given to the Grand Encampment of Ire- 
land in 1886. Cheesman declares Stewart 
did not get the Order from him and that 
Stewart must have invented the one he 
took abroad. Stewart was never a member 
of the original College. The idea or plan 
of a College of Ancients evidently spread 
from its creator, Land, in 1880, through 
the Chapter General, Knights of St. John 
and Malta, to Cheesman, who, as he de- 
clares, after seceding, borrowed merely its 
title and the names of two of its degrees, 
the Eagle and Great Cross, upon which 
to build up a series of degrees of merit of 
his own. Stewart, McClintock, and others 



ANCIENT ORDER OF FORESTERS 



221 



of the Ancient and Illustrious Order then 
proceeded to create a College of Ancients 
of their own, the third, which, strange to 
say, they adorned with emblems and mot- 
toes of the Scottish Eite and other degrees of 
Masonry, and made it presumably a sort of 
ne plus ultra of their own Order of Malta. 
^^JTh-e organizations of Daughters of Malta and 
of Dames of Malta, composed of women 
relatives and friends of members of the 
Order, are not known to have yet been 
formally recognized as a part of the organi- 
zation. There are about 17,000 members 
of the Ancient and Illustrious Order of 
Malta in the United States, and the society 
promises to grow even more rapidly than in 
preceding years. Its Scotch and Irish mem- 
bership is not believed to exceed 2,000. 

Ancient Essenic Order. — Founded in 
1888, at Olympia, Washington, by Charles 
J. Weatherby. It seeks to unite fraternally 
acceptable men ; to give moral and material 
aid and assistance to members and to those 
depending upon them for support ; to en- 
courage each other in social and business 
matters, and to assist each other in obtain- 
ing employment ; to care for the sick and 
disabled and furnish relief to the poor and 
distressed, arid is to be classified as a frater- 
nal, social, semi-military, and benevolent 
society, without what are called beneficiary 
or insurance features. The public appear- 
ance of the Order during the opening cere- 
monies of the Tennessee Centennial Expo- 
sition at Xashville, in 1897, was said to be 
imposing. The badge of the Order is a 
golden crescent and star. Total member- 
ship is about 35,000. The Order makes no 
claim to antiquity, or to trace a more-or- 
less disconnected existence back to the origi- 
nal Jewish sect of Essenes, which was co- 
existent with the Pharisees and Sadducees, 
200 B.C., and conspicuous in Jewish his- 
tory until it disappeared with the coming 
of the new dispensation. The headquar- 
ters of the modern organization are at 
New York city, where it is presided over by 
its founder and Supreme Euler. It may or 



may not be of interest to add that S. C. 
Oould, in his "Societas Rosicruciana " 
(Manchester, 1ST. H., 1896), says : " A small 
book, now out of print, bears the following 
title : ' Important concealed information, 

-obtained from an old manuscript found in 
Alexandria, shows that Jesus in a trance 
was taken down from the Cross, brought to 
life again, and in reality died six months 
after, within a secret religious society called 
Essene Brethren, of which He was a mem- 
ber. A manuscript for Freemasons/ " 

Ancient Order of Foresters. — The pa- 
rent or English Order of Foresters is unique 
in that its ceremonies, ritual, and legends 
are founded on the history and traditions of 
the English people. The revival of Free- 
masonry in England, in 1717, carried along 
and emphasized historical and traditional 
incidents which long antedated records af- 
fecting the British Isles. A split from or 
an imitation of the Freemasons of 1830 
to 1845, or an antagonism to them, re- 
sulted in the founding of a Lodge of Odd 
Fellows, in 1745, and remains to this day 
a mighty organization, but one which has 
betrayed the thumb-marks of Freemasonry 
on its pages. The Loyal Order of Orange- 
men, organized later in the eighteenth 
century, while entirely unlike Freemasonry 
as to objects and ritualistic material, 
is also built along lines borrowed from 
Masonic trestle boards. But with Forestry 
a new departure was made. By 1813 Free- 
masonry was the only widespread, interna- 
tional secret society in the United King- 
dom. It was growing rapidly, and had 
already become powerful, not only from the 
character of its membership, but from the 
fact that it had just healed a mighty schism 
of more than half a century's duration. 
The Odd Fellows, too, were relatively strong 

"in number at that time, but more preferred 
by the people as distinct from the classes. 
That Order was even then giving evidence 
of its strength through the secession of a 
large share of its members, who formed 
what has since become the main branch or 



222 



ANCIENT ORDER OF FORESTERS 



stem of the Independent Order of Odd Fel- 
lows, Manchester Unity. The first evidence 
of the existence of a Court of Foresters 
from which a direct line of succession is 
obtained is dated 1813, and takes the form 
of a dispensation from No. 1 Court of Eoyal 
Foresters, held at Old Crown Inn, Kirkgate, 
Leeds, for the opening of No. 1 Court at the 
Shoulder of Mutton Inn, Knaresborough. 
The dispensation says : 

The Supreme Chief Ranger and officers of No. 1 
Supreme Court of Royal Foresters, held at the 
house of Mr, Hugh Black, inn-holder at Leeds, 
having the welfare of the institution at heart, as 
tending to improve the morals of men, and make 
those good who are inclined to be so, do grant, 
and give our full consent to Brother John Smithson 
of Knaresborough to assemble and hold regular 
Court of Royal Foresters at the house of Mr. Rich- 
ard Lister, inn-holder of Knaresborough, by the 
firm, style, and title of No. 2 Royal Foresters, and 
there to perform all the rites and ceremonies of 
Ancient Foresters as practised of old at our Secret 
Swaine Mote. 

The dispensation provided, also, that the 
sole power to grant dispensations was re- 
served by Supreme Court No. 1, and that 
the Chief Sanger of Court No. 2 should 
communicate at least once a year with Su- 
preme Court No. 1. The date of the dis- 
pensation, 5,817, translated (counting from 
Adam) as 1813, " is the only absolute date 
we can find in connection with the early 
history of the Order. " * For a long time, 
however, it was claimed and believed the 
Royal Order of Foresters was founded at 
Knaresborough Castle, October 29, 1745, 
the year, by the way, in which we have the 
first record of a Lodge of Odd Fellows. In 
fact, tbe preface to the general laws of the 
Royal Foresters for many years contained 
a foot-note to that effect. But no records 
were ever in existence, as far as known, to 
show that the pioneer Royal Order of For- 
esters ever met at Knaresborough Castle. 
There was, however, a meeting of " Royal 
Foresters " at Knaresborough, in 1792, to 
" show their loyalty," at which a strong 

* Foresters' Directory, Glasgow, 1887. 



resolution was passed ' i against levellers and 
other seditious folk." * These Foresters 
are declared by late official publications of 
the (English) Ancient Order of Foresters 
not to have been their kith and kin at all, 
not " sworn brothers" of their "secret 
swaine mote," but merely inhabitants or 
tenants of the royal forest of Knaresborough, 
who thus testified to their loyalty at the 
centre of authority of the manor and forest. 
It is open to conjecture that a similar gath- 
ering of what may be termed operative for- 
esters, who were "royal" because loyal, 
may have been held at Knaresborough Cas- 
tle in 1745 also, and that the founders of 
the modern Royal Foresters, early in this 
century, in their search for an ancient line- 
age, may have gotten hold of the story, 
and so dated themselves back more than 
three-quarters of a century. 

This theory or conjecture takes on prob- 
ability because of the interest regarding 
the spread of Freemasonry from 1725 
to 1750, and the coincident formation of 
convivial secret societies of Odd Fellows. 
It is possible that meetings of Royal For- 
esters of that period were of a similar out- 
growth ; at least, so the Foresters of 1838 
thought, argued, and printed as a foot-note 
in the preface to their general laws. 
Evidently a few years of comparative pros- 
perity had stimulated a search for the real 
origin of the secret society of Foresters, ■ 
for in the preface to the general laws 
in 1829 it was explicitly stated that the 
No. 1 Court at Leeds was "the oldest on 
record" — only that and nothing more. 
The later, or Knaresborough theory, that 
the birth of the Order was in 1745, which 
has long been discarded, was picturesque 
and had a local flavor which was sure to 
attract. It declared that congenial spirits 
formed secret convivial clubs or courts, 
under the name of Foresters, and that their 
ceremonies were drawn from the legends 
and stories concerning Robin Hood, Little 
John, and their merrie men, with which 

* London Sporting Magazine. 



ANCIENT ORDER OF FORESTERS 



223 



the English people were so familiar. 
Either the founders of the Order of For- 
esters builded better than they knew, when 
they veiled their so-called mysteries with 
tapestry decorated with the exploits of one 
so popular among English legendary he- 
roes, or else they stumbled upon a most 
attractive background of tradition against 
which to arrange their ceremonies. In 
any event, they produced a secret society, 
equipped with legend and ritual which were 
unique in that they appealed directly to the 
imagination and sympathies of the masses, 
with the lays of the minstrels of the middle 
ages which made popular the lawless dar- 
ing of British yeomanry. Ballads in praise 
of knight errantry charmed the nobility, 
but the plain people were fascinated by the 
stories of Robin Hood, Little John, Friar 
Tuck, and their followers who roamed 
through Sherwood forest, levying on no- 
bles and clergy, waging constant warfare 
against "the usurpers of English soil," 
and exacting toll from castle and abbey on 
the confines of the forest. Small wonder 
that the earlier members of the modern 
Order of Foresters sought to trace the 
links which might connect them with the 
Foresters who represented the resistance of 
the yeomanry of centuries ago at being- 
despoiled of their lands. Later, when the 
power of the kings prevailed over the 
forest, the foresters guarded them and the 
trees and wild beasts within their baili- 
wicks, and organization became necessary 
to preserve the "vert and venison " against 
attacks from bands of outlaws. A mode 
of government then became necessary and 
a "code of the forest" was the outcome. 
Three courts were formed, the Wood 
Mote, a warrant or attachment court ; the 
Swaine Mote, a court of preliminary exami- 
nation, and the Justice Seat, or court of 
trial and conviction. As might naturally 
follow, these banded foresters had signs 
and tokens of recognition. With a code 
of laws their very environment created 
the need for means of recognition. Hence 



the organizations became Courts ; the chief 
officials, Chief Rangers, Sub-Chief Ran- 
gers, Woodwards, and Beadles. In addi- 
tion to the development of the forestry of 
an outlawed peasantry into a forestry of 
law-abiding, peaceful yeomanry, there were 
a great many societies of Foresters in Eng- 
land prior to 1790 with varying titles and 
objects, but, so far as history or chronicle 
shows, entirely unconnected with and dif- 
ferent from modern Foresters. At the 
present time, the Ancient Order of For- 
esters, with 900,000 members, ranks second 
only, as to number of members and age 
among the British affiliated friendly so- 
cieties, to the Manchester Unity, the prin- 
cipal branch of English Odd Fellows. A 
point of contrast between these friendly 
rivals in the United Kingdom lies in the 
fact that while schism has rent Odd Fel- 
lowship into twenty-seven distinct but 
similar societies, the Ancient Order of 
Foresters includes all of British Forestry 
except a small schismatic branch known 
as the Irish National Order, the English 
branch of the Independent Order, and a 
few Courts of Royal Foresters, which re- 
main faithful to and constitute all that con- 
tinues of the ancient organization of that 
name. 

In America the situation is different ; for 
aside from a branch of the (English) Ancient 
Order of Foresters there are : The Foresters 
of America, the Independent Order of Fores- 
ters, the Independent Order of Foresters of 
Illinois, the Canadian Order of Foresters, 
the Catholic Order of Foresters of Illinois, 
the United Order of Foresters, the Massa- 
chusetts Catholic Order of Foresters, and 
the Irish National Order of Foresters. But 
the Foresters of America has nearly as many 
members in the United States as all the 
others. There was also an independent 
Pennsylvania Order of Foresters, but little 
has been heard of it in recent years. There 
are, or were not long ago, a few, perhaps 
five or six, negro courts of an independent 
(clandestine) Order of Forestry in New 



224 



ANCIENT ORDER OF FORESTERS 



York city. They probably got their 
" forestry " in the same manner as the negro 
Knights of Pythias got the name and 
emblems of the latter society. Very little 
is known of them or their whereabouts. 

All the Orders of Forestry, except the 
(English) Ancient Order, when strictly 
classified, are clandestine, and, in a sense, 
not entitled to the use of titles, insignia, 
and ritual which infringe on those of the 
Ancient Order. This characterization in- 
yolyes a fine point in ethics, one upon 
which conscientious men may differ. But 
the least that may be said is, that whatever 
the merits or demerits of the disputes or dif- 
ferences which have resulted in schism among 
Foresters, the various branches would have 
been absolutely right if they had begun 
their careers with essentially different names, 
with newly created titles, and something- 
different or original in the way of ritual 
and ceremonies. The (English) Ancient 
Order, the Foresters of America, and the 
Independent Order easily lead in member- 
ship and promise prolonged careers of use- 
fulness. While there is no more connection 
between them than between the Freemasons 
and Odd Fellows, they are traveling parallel 
courses in the work of uplifting humanity, 
and it is to be regretted that the prospect 
for their being reunited is not bright. 
With three great bodies of Foresters, with 
three sets of salaried officials, and, therefore, 
three times as many opportunities for pre- 
ferment and distinction for services rendered, 
it seems, in view of the tendency of human 
nature, that the dream of only one universal 
Order of Forestry is not likely to be real- 
ized in the near future. 

Beginning, in 1834, with about 12,000 
members, as a schism from the Eoyal Order 
of Foresters, the enthusiasm of the Ancient 
Order may be judged by the addition of 
3,000 new members within a year. Nearly 
300 Courts of Royal Foresters gave alle- 
giance to the new body within three months. 
The one American Court joined the Ancient 
Order in 1834-35, at which time all but about 



50 out of 408 Courts of Royal Foresters had 
seceded and joined the Ancients. The 
Royal initiatory ceremony was used with 
alterations, but new regalia was adopted. 
In imitation of like outgivings by the Odd 
Fellows and the Druids, the publication of 
a directory of the Order was begun, after 
which, in 1836, a new ritual was prepared, 
although it differs from that now in use, 
concerning which members declare that no 
trace of Masonic influence, " which so per- 
meated the Odd Fellows' ritual," can be 
found in it. At that period the Forestic rit- 
ual included only one degree or ceremony of 
initiation. In 1835, prior to the complete 
revision of the old ritual (and after refusing 
to recognize or organize a women's Order 
of Forestry), the Ancient Order adopted 
bodily the ritual of the Ancient Order of 
Shepherds* as its second degree. Whether 

* The Ancient Order of Foresters is also unique 
in that it is the only similar society or order to cre- 
ate what may be called an additional degree or 
grade by incorporating within itself another and 
perhaps older secret society. In making this com- 
parison, reference is had, of course, to so-called "af- 
filiated, friendly " or secret, beneficiary societies 
alone. "The origin of the Shepherds is declared by 
its self-appointed chroniclers to date back to "some 
unknown period in the early part of the present 
century." The Shepherds met in " Sanctuaries," 
were originally called Royar* Shepherds, and early 
became allied through tradition or otherwise with 
the Foresters. The governing body of Shepherds 
was called the Supreme Sanctuary. For these and 
other reasons the two Orders were believed to have 
long had a common origin. Sanctuaries of Shep- 
herds are declared to have been in the habit 
of meeting with Courts of Foresters by dispensa- 
tion of the Supreme Sanctuary, and there is in 
existence a dispensation from the Supreme Sanc- 
tuary of Royal Shepherds, Leeds, to members of 
Court of Truth, No. 21, Royal Foresters, and 
their successors, to "assemble and hold a second 
degree of Royal Foresters," etc., "under the title 
of Royal Shepherds, and there to make and form 
Shepherds and to perform all rites and cere- 
monies as practised by the Ancient Shepherds." 
It is signed, among others, by the Worthy Royal 
Pastor, First and Second Attendants, and Worthy 
Supreme Pastor. In 1835 a meeting of delegates 
of Sanctuaries of Shepherds was held at Leeds, 



ANCIENT ORDER OF FORESTERS 



225 



this means that an existing but moribund 
Order was adopted en Hoc by British For- 
esters in 1835, or whether merely that the 
ritual of a practically extinct or a dormant 
society was incorporated within English 
Forestry, does not appear. By 1836, within 
two years, the total membership had in- 
creased to 17,260, a gain of more than 5,000 
within two years, and the extent of the ref- 
ormation of sentiment as to the purposes 
and conduct of the society may be inferred 
in that meetings were authorized to be held 

which is referred to as the first High Sanctuary 
Meeting. An organization was perfected, a code 
of rules prepared, and heraldic emblems, motto, and 
word were adopted. From that time the progress 
of the Ancient Order of Shepherds within the body 
of Forestry (more particularly in the United States) 
has been steady, but without other noteworthy de- 
velopment. A suspension of a Forester from his 
Court formerly acted as a suspension from his Sanc- 
tuary, which in later years was not the case. Ex- 
pulsion from a Court, however, expelled from the 
Sanctuary also. The tendency in England has been 
to loosen the tie between the two organizations. 
Shepherds there now govern their own affairs, the 
natural outcome of a ruling thai a Forester's ad- 
vancement in office is not affected by his not hav- 
ing joined the Ancient Order of Shepherds. Mem- 
bership in the Shepherds (England) carried with ii 
"half benefits" for which "half contributions" 
were necessary. The practical breakdown of Shep- 
herdry in Forestry in England was due primarily 
to unwillingness to keep up two organizations in 
one, with two rituals and two sets of expense. 
Elaborate ritual, extensive paraphernalia, and 1 he 
like, are more popular in the United States than in 
the United Kingdom. The emblem of the Shep- 
herds is the sheepskin sack or white wool scrip. 
The heraldic emblem, adopted sixty years ago. was 
the Lamb and the Cross ; but the Cross was after- 
ward eliminated "in deference to the wishes of 
Jewish brethren." The motto as given in author- 
ized Forestic publications was Noster Pastor Domi- 
ne, and "the word" formerly was Quam Dilecti. 
The ' 'Handbook of Foresters of America," published 
in 1893, Xew York, states that the Ancient Order 
of Shepherds severed its connection with the Order 
in England and became Americanized shortly after 
the Minneapolis Convention in 1889. It now forms 
a beneficiary branch of the Foresters of America, 
"but its distinctive aim is to socially unite the 
brethren of the different Courts." 
15 



ouly in "temperance hotels ;" that sessions 
must close by eleven o'clock at night, and 
that in ceremonies in which swords had been 
used, clubs should thereafter be employed. 
It was not until 1837 that Forestry was in- 
troduced into London. Between 1837 and 
1843 much was suggested and begun in 
the way of extending and enlarging philan- 
thropic work, and efforts were made to pro- 
vide for the relief of the superannuated 
and maimed as well as the sick and dis- 
tressed. The nine years following the ref- 
ormation, after the revolution in 1834, con- 
stituted the primary period in the life of 
the society, during which it had been man- 
aged at odd moments by men whose atten- 
tion was, in most instances, nearly all oc- 
cupied with the task of earning their liv- 
ings. 

In 1843 the practical period in the life- 
work of British Forestry was begun with 
the election of permanent, salaried officials. 
This indicates that Forestry had been fol- 
lowing or watching closely the strides of 
its older sister, the Manchester Unity of 
Odd Fellows, which in 1844, in order to 
insure solvency, went so far as to interfere 
in the financial affairs of its subordinate 
Lodges, one of the first steps looking to 
financial soundness on the part of such 
societies, and one which the more success- 
ful secret beneficiary assessment societies 
have imitated. Hardly second in impor- 
tance was the persistent, even courageous, 
compilation of vital statistics by the Man- 
chester Unity Odd Fellows. Vital statis- 
tics, as a basis on which to establish a scale 
of assessments, to determine something in 
relation to the probable lifetime of an 
applicant for membership, were little un- 
derstood by the working classes of the 
United Kingdom sixty or seventy years 
ago, and were lightly esteemed by nearly 
all members of the then leading beneficiary 
Orders — Foresters, Druids, and Odd Fel- 
lows. Foresters were among the first to 
recognize the necessity for the business 
methods of the Odd Fellows. Although 



226 



ANCIENT ORDER OF FORESTERS 



all Orders named, as well as the non-secret, 
generally local, beneficiary societies, con- 
tinned to hold meetings, initiate members, 
and relieve distressed brethren by system- 
atic contributions, for fifteen or sixteen 
years after the birth of the Ancient Order 
of Foresters in 1834, all except the purely 
local societies continued under the ban of 
the corresponding societies and the sedi- 
tious meetings acts, and were unable to pro- 
tect themselves, by law, against fraud or 
theft. Not until 1850 did they finally gain 
legal recognition through the friendly 
societies act, which required the registry 
of their rules. The Ancient Order of 
Foresters has been .described as the first 
affiliated friendly society applying for 
registry under that act, and by that date, 
October, 1850, this Order numbered nearly 
70,000 members, although it suffered in 
1848 from the results of a bitter struggle 
between its officials over the investment of 
funds. This had no sooner ended in the 
interest of the society at large than an 
unfaithful treasurer disappeared from Glas- 
gow (1849) with a considerable sum belong- 
ing to the organization, which almost 
killed Forestry as well as Odd Fellowship 
at that city, and it was fully sixteen years 
before they recovered from the blow. Yet, 
by 1855, only six years later, there were, in 
all, 1 00,000 members of the Ancient Order of 
Foresters, a gain of 34,000 within ten years. 
In the effort to extend the work of relief a 
levy of one shilling per member was made in 
1850 for the erection of a Foresters" Home, 
and in that year, and those immediately 
following, mortality and sick tables were 
compiled. These were imperfect, but were 
greatly improved in 1855 by the incorpora- 
tion of features developed in like statistics 
prepared by the Manchester Unity. Not- 
withstanding imperfections in the earlier 
Forestic tables of membership, sickness, 
deaths, etc., the compilations demonstrated 
the then unsuspected ability of the Order 
to pay fourteen shillings. per week for the 
full term of sickness of members (between 



the ages of twenty and seventy) on the 
assessment of only fourpence per week per 
capita. 

In 1857 a prize and honorary membership 
were awarded Mr. George Faulkner of Man- 
chester for a new ceremony of initiation, 
and in 1862 £500 were sent to relieve dis- 
tress in the cotton districts of the United 
States, the result of the Civil War, "and to 
relieve the distressed members of the Or- 
der." In 1865 the passing of a satisfactory 
medical examination was made compulsory 
on those applying for membership, and as 
an evidence of the growth of the society, at 
the High Court Meeting at Wolverhampton 
in 1868, at which the Earl of Litchfield pre- 
sided, delegates were, present from Ireland 
and from Australia. At that meeting, also, 
was first urged the payment of a graduated 
scale of assessments according to age, but 
this was not perfected until 1882, although 
nominally put into operation in 1872 so far 
as new members were concerned. The pub- 
lic spirit of the society is attested by its pres- 
entation of a life-boat to the National Life- 
Boat Institution in 1864, and another in 1869. 

The Order was formally introduced into 
the United States in 1832, by the estab- 
lishment of Court Good Speed, No. 201, 
at Philadelphia, by the Royal Foresters. 
In 1836 Court Good Speed seceded to the 
Ancient Order, but died some time after, 
leaving no records. Court General Wash- 
ington, No. 1,361, was opened at Brooklyn 
in 1841, but was short-lived. Early in 1842 
Court Potifar, No. 1,412, and Court Trans- 
atlantic "were opened somewhere in the 
United States," but no records remain to 
tell where. A dispensation was granted to 
" City of New York," with no name of 
Court, early in 1843, but apparently noth- 
ing further was done in the matter. Court 
Bay State, No. 2,249, was opened at Boston 
in December, 1847, but has not been heard 
of since. But on May 28, 1864, Court 
Brooklyn, No. 4,421, was instituted at 
Brooklyn, N. Y., and on May 5, 1865, Court 
Robin Hood was instituted in New York 



ANCIENT ORDER OF FORESTERS 



227 



city, both of which continue to this day 
and are therefore the oldest living Courts 
of Forestry in the United States. Between 
1864 and the year 1874, when the first dis- 
sension in the ranks of American Forestry 
took place, the Order in the United States 
grew until it numbered 43 Courts with 
2,300 members, all holding allegiance to the 
High Court of the Ancient Order of Fores- 
ters of England. As pointed on t in a " His- 
tory of the Independent Order of Foresters " 
(Toronto: Hunter, Eose & Co., 1894), an 
agitation arose as early as 1871 to secure a 
Subsidiary High Court for the United States, 
the demand being based on a desire for local 
self-government. It is declared that several 
petitions to that end were sent to the Eng- 
lish High Court, where they were thrown 
out. After that the movement became in 
part one for separation from the mother or- 
ganization, and the establishment of an in- 
dependent High Court for the United States. 
As stated by the leader of the movement for 
independence, A. B. Caldwell (who joined 
the Order in 1870), ; *he (himself) became 
at once restless and dissatisfied with the 
arbitrary laws and general mismanage- 
ment . . . and soon commenced agitating 
independent Forestry." 

A convention of Foresters was held at 
Liberty Hall, Newark, N. J., June 16 and 
17, 1874, in response to a call signed by 
500- Ancient Foresters, residents mostly of 
New York and New Jersey. Court Inde- 
pendence, No. 1, of Newark, had already 
seceded and organized itself into a Court of 
Independent Foresters, and prior to the 
convention had instituted two independent 
Courts of Foresters under the names Court 
General Kearney, No. 2, Kearney, N. J., 
and Court United States, No. 3, New York 
city. These three Courts in convention 
declared their independence of the High 
Court of the Ancient Order of Foresters of 
England, and elected A. B. Caldwell Most 
Worthy High Chief Ranger. Before the 
end of 1874, and only shortly after the new 
Independent Order had refused to compro- 



mise differences with its American brethren 
of the Ancient Order, a Subsidiary High 
Court of the Ancient Order of Foresters for 
the United States was finally granted by 
the High Court of England, at Worcester, 
^England, on proposition of Court Wines, 
No. 5,738, New York, now Court Republic. 
Jerome Buck of New York, and Mr. 
Phillips of Scranton, Pa,, were delegates 
to the meeting of the English High Court 
at Worcester. The new Subsidiary High 
Court was established at New York late in 
1874, and the first Executive Council was 
located at Brooklyn, N. Y. Jerome Buck 
was Subsidiary High Chief Ranger. Chron- 
iclers of the (English) Ancient Order place 
its American membership at that date at 
over 2,000 and the number of Courts at 43. 
Evidently the leaders of the Independent 
Order had gone far enough to taste the 
sweets of being in control of what promised 
to be a successful beneficiary secret society, 
because the granting of the original demand 
by the seceders for a Subsidiary High 
Court to the American branch of the An- 
cient Order, only a few months after the 
schism, failed to exercise any appreciable 
influence to reunite the American bodies. 
For the next fifteen years the Ancient Or- 
der in the United States continued its alle- 
giance to the High Court of England, 
when it, too, at the meeting of the Sub- 
sidiary High Court at Minneapolis, August 
15, 1889, seceded from the English organi- 
zation and became the Ancient Order of 
Foresters of America, and in 1895 the 
Foresters of America, under which title it 
enjoys the distinction of having the largest 
membership of any of the various orders of 
Forestry into which it and the Independent 
Order have been divided. From 1875 to 
1889, while still a branch of the English 
society, the Ancient Order in the United 
States greatly outstripped the mother fra- 
ternity in rate of progress, increasing in 
membership in fourteen years from about 
2,000 to 56,000. By 1895 it numbered 
119,000 members, an increase of more than 



228 



ANCIENT ORDER OF FORESTERS 



fifty-fold within twenty-one years, while 
the English Order during the same period 
trebled its membership. The latter, how- 
ever, has eight members to one of the For- 
esters of America. 

For fiye jears after the establishment 
of the American Subsidiary High Court, 
the progress of the Ancient Order was 
slow, membership increasing from about 
2,000 to only 4,500. In the following ten 
years extension was rapid, membership in- 
creasing to 9,950 by 1881, to 16,780 in 1883, 
to 23,570 in 1885, 29,000 in 1886, and to 
56,000 in 1889. The "color question" 
appeared early in the life of the American 
organization, there having been " two or 
more Courts of colored Foresters in the 
Order,"* which were "quietly gotten rid 
of by the Subsidiary High Court refusing 
to accept their per capita tax," on the 
ground that "to attract members and pre- 
serve unity it was necessary for the Order 
to place itself regarding the negro on the 
same ground with other leading secret be- 
nevolent societies." These Courts of negro 
Foresters afterward affiliated with the Eng- 
lish Order. At the second Subsidiary High 
Court, at Scranton, Pa., 1875, rules for 
admission to the Order were adopted, limit- 
ing applicants to " white males," etc. This 
brought it into conflict with the High 
Court of England, by which no distinction 
is made as to race. The subject was de- 
bated in three English High Court meet- 
ings, and strong expressions were made 
against the American rule, while in two 
Subsidiary High Courts propositions to 
strike out the word " white " were voted 
down by large majorities. At the eleventh 
Subsidiary High Court, at Detroit, 1885, 
permanent Secretary E. M. McMurtry, to 
whom the Order owes much of its success, 
and J. J. Hayes, were appointed a com- 
mittee to attend the High Court at Leices- 
ter, England, in 1886, and present the 

* Handbook of the Ancient Order of Foresters 
of America : Forestic Publishing Company, New 
York, 1893. 



American side of "the negro question." 
They did so, and the English High Court 
was sufficiently impressed to content itself 
with merely reaffirming its previous opin- 
ions, relying "on the good faith and sense 
of justice of the American brethren to open 
their portals to all men at the earliest possi- 
ble moment." Notwithstanding this con- 
ciliatory action, the English High Court 
at its next session, Glasgow, 1887, declared 
that no law of any Subsidiary High Court, 
etc., should prevent the admission of a man 
on account of his color, and that any exist- 
ing law to that effect was deemed invalid. 
The reply from the United States w r as that 
the charter rights of the Subsidiary High 
Court in the United States permitted the 
adoption by it of the rule referred to, and 
that no law existed permitting the High 
Court to curtail or regulate enactments of 
the Subsidiary High Court. It is further 
claimed by permanent Secretary McMurtry 
and others conversant with the situation, 
that the American Subsidiary High Court 
sanctioned at Worcester, England, in 1874, 
was the outcome merely of a general law 
for the government of such a Court ; that 
no charter was ever issued to it, and that 
the Subsidiary High Court of America was 
virtually an independent, self -created body, 
sanctioned by the High Court of England, 
owing allegiance to the latter in a fraternal 
sense only. Evidently British Foresters 
thought differently, and it is possible they 
were not influenced by the most conserva- 
tive among them, for the Eeading (Eng- 
land) High Court, in 1888, rescinded the 
resolution adopted at Worcester in 1874, 
fourteen years before, viz.: "That a Sub- 
sidiary High Court for the United States 
of America be granted," thereby cancelling 
the existing government of the English 
Orders of Foresters in the United States, 
and suspending all members thereof who 
refused to comply with the action taken. 
Excitement naturally ran high among 
American Foresters affected, particularly 
as the English body had made public its 



BENEVOLENT AND PROTECTIVE ORDER OF ELKS 



229 



willingness to reassume direct parental re- 
lations with individual American Courts. 
A great majority of American Courts fa- 
vored independence, only eighteen actively 
favoring English supremacy — -thirteen in 
California, two in Michigan, and one each 
in New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut. 
These afterwards formed the nucleus of the 
remaining Ancient Order in the United 
States. The eighteen Courts which re- 
fused to recognize the Subsidiary High 
Court were suspended, and subsequently 
affiliated with the English Order. 
H Ancient Order, Daughters of Jerusa- 
lem — See Ancient Order, Knights of Je- 
rusalem. 

Ancient Order, Knights of Jerusa- 
7em._fOne of the smaller fraternal benefi- 
ciary associations, paying death and funeral 
benefits. \ Associated with it is a similar so- 
ciety for women, the Ancient Order of 
Daughters of Jerusalem. \ Its headquarters 
are at Washington, D. C. 

Ancient Order of Sanhedrims. — 
Founded by W. S. Iliff and Franklin Van 
Xuys, at Richmond, Ind., April 1, 1895, as 
a fraternal beneficiary order. It ])ays sick 
benefits of $5 weekly for five weeks in a 
year. To be eligible to membership a man 
must be sound physically, of good moral 
character, and a member of some secret so- 
ciety in good standing. The Order is an 
outgrowth of the Orientals, a "side degree" 
attached to the Knights of Pythias. 

Ancient Order of Shepherds. — Origi- 
nally constituting one degree of the (Eng- 
lish) Ancieut Order of Foresters, it now 
forms a beneficiary branch of the Foresters of 
America. (See Ancient Order of Foresters, 
Foresters of America, and Loyal Ancient 
Order of Shepherds.) 

Artisans' Order of Mutual Protection. 
— Founded by James N. Bunn of Altoona, 
Pa., in 1873, who withdrew from the 
Ancient Order of United Workmen for that 
purpose. As the latter is practically the 
pioneer American mutual assessment, 
secret fraternity paying death benefits, so 



is the Artisans' Order of Mutual Protection 
one of its oldest children. The latter oper- 
ates only in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and 
New York, and pays sick and death benefits, 
but by means of fixed quarterly dues, instead 
-of by mutual assessments. Sick benefits 
amount to $5 weekly and are not deducted 
from death benefits, which range from 
$1,000 to $2,000. The society's ritual is 
"based purely on business principles," yet 
the principal emblem, containing an illus- 
tration of the application of the screw and 
the pulley to mechanics, the whole with 
a triangle inscribed within a circle and sur- 
rounded by the words " Peace, Power, and 
Protection," is suggestive of an appropriate 
and instructive ceremonial. The office of 
the most Excellent Recorder is at Phila- 
delphia, where a large proportion of the 
four thousand members may be found. 

Benevolent and Protective Order of 
Elks. — A charitable and benevolent organ- 
ization, designed to contribute to the so- 
cial enjoyment of its members, to relieve 
the necessities of deserving brethren, their 
widows and orphans, and perpetuate the 
memories of deceased members of the Order. 
Its origin is given in Allen O. Myer's history 
of the Order as follows : 

In 1806 the Legislature of New York passed seven 
excise laws thai closed up all the saloons, theatres, 
etc., on Sunday. Actors are a social class, and 
this law deprived them of friendly intercourse and 
recreation on the only day in the week they could 
call their own. They looked around to find some 
way to evade this law and enjoy themselves as they 
saw fit on the day of rest. A few of them raised a 
purse by small contributions to pay for a room and 
buy refreshments and a lunch for the company. 
They met first in a room over a place on Fourteenth 
Street in New York city, and afterwards they met in 
a room on the Bowery. As the members increased 
they saw the necessity of having some sort of an 
organization to prevent confusion in their social 
sessions and to transact the little business necessary. 
An organization was formed, called the "Jolly 
Corks." There was a social organization in Eng- 
land called the " Buffaloes." It was a convivial 
society, and as there were a number of English 
actors in the company, the first ideas of organiza- 
tion were doubtless suggested by that society, and 



230 



BENEVOLENT ORDER OF BUFFALOES 



the name " Jolly Corks" was given the new body, 
either from the flying corks that came from the 
bottles, or because of the connection of the mem- 
bers with the theatrical profession. 

The credit of founding the Order is given 
to Charles Algernon S. Vivian, an English- 
man, an actor, and the son of a clergyman 
of the established church. After the so- 
ciety was formed at 'New York, the mem- 
bers desired a distinctively American name, 
one which would harmonize with the desire 
for making the organization secret in char- 
acter and social and benevolent in purpose. 
Several who happened to be at Barnum's 
old Museum in New York city were struck 
by the appearance of a fine moose head, 
and agreed to select it as the society's 
emblem, and the word "Elk" for the name 
of the new Order. This choice of name was 
due to the impression made by the descrip- 
tion of Cervus Alces in " Buffon's Natural 
History," "fleet of foot, and timorous of 
doing wrong, avoiding all combat except in 
fighting for the female and in defence of 
the young and helpless and weak." Gold- 
smith's description of the elk in his "Ani- 
mated History " also exercised an influence 
on the choice of name. Some confusion 
has arisen within and out of the Order over 
the use of the name Cervus Alces with 
the head of the American elk. Some years 
ago, when the Order had begun to grow, the 
moose (Cervus Alces) head was dropped by 
order of the Grand Lodge and the elk head 
(Cervus Canadensis) was adopted as the offi- 
cial emblem of the Order. The secret society 
affiliations of the earlier Elks, the original 
"Jolly Corks," in addition to the Benevo- 
lent Order of Buffaloes, an English friendly 
society, cannot be ascertained; but the real 
founders of the Elks, those who so shaped 
its destinies as to make it one of the leading- 
brotherhoods among the few not founded 
on political or financial considerations, may 
be safely classed as Freemasons; for the cere- 
monial of the Elks, although it has been 
changed several times, still presents features 
familiar to workmen from the quarries. 



One of the more conspicuous evidences of this 
is or has been found in the use of aprons 
by Elks, and "Lodges of Sorrow," and 
" Tylers." The rule which permits the ex- 
istence of only one lodge of Elks in a city 
(since 1886) works well in practice. The 
governing body is the Supreme Lodge, to 
which subordinate Lodges send representa- 
tives. In 1898 there were about 300 Lodges 
at as many cities throughout the country, 
with 35,000 members. The notion that the 
Order is made up almost exclusively of mem- 
bers of the theatrical profession is erroneous. 
While many actors are Elks, the Order con- 
tains members from all the leading walks of 
business and professional life. The initials 
of the titles of some of its officers (Esteemed 
Leading Knight, Esteemed Loyal Knight, 
and Esteemed Lecturing Knight) are just 
Kabbalistic enough to excite interest, and 
what the members of the Order do at half- 
past eleven is known only to themselves. 
Elks' Memorial Day occurs annually on the 
first Sunday in December, when the memo- 
ries of departed brethren are revived and 
fittingly referred to. But above all things 
else is charity the distinguishing character- 
istic of the Order, charity which is inoffen- 
sive, un traced, and unsuspected. 

Benevolent Order of Buffaloes.— 
Whether or not the original Benevolent 
Order of Buffaloes, a social secret organiza- 
tion in England, had any more to do with 
the forming of the American secret society by 
the same name, which consists of one Lodge 
in Philadelphia and one in New York, has 
not been ascertained. The New York body 
was organized May 1, 1881. The Order pays 
sick and death benefits, and, in reply to in- 
quiries, states that the Philadelphia and 
New York Lodges "are the only ones in 
existence." 

Brethren Hospitalers of St. John the 
Baptist of Jerusalem.— See Knights of 
St. John of Jerusalem, Rhodes, Malta, etc. 

Chevaliers of Pythias.— Organized in 
Boston in 1888 as a charitable and bene- 
ficiary society, but with the payment of 



CONCATENATED ORDER OF HOO-HOO 



231 



death and sick benefits optional. Its title 
is plainly a plagiarism from that of an older 
and well-known fraternity. It is reported 
defunct. 

\ Companions of the Forest. — A social 
beneficiary secret society confined to mem- 
bers of the Foresters of America and their 
women relatives and friends, organized at 
San Francisco in June, 1883 .v (See Foresters 
of America and Ancient Order of Foresters.) 
Concatenated Order of Hoo-Hoo. — 
Organized at Gurdon, Ark., on January 21, 
1892. There were present at the founding 
of the Order, B. Arthur Johnson, of the edi- 
torial staff of the "Timberman," Chicago, 
111. ; William Eddy Barns, editor of the St. 
Louis "Lumberman," St. Louis, Mo.; 
George Washington Schwartz, of the Van- 
dal ia Road, St. Louis, Mo. ; A. Strauss, of the 
Malvern Lumber Company, Malvern, Ark.; 
George Kimball Smith, Secretary of the 
Southern Lumber Manufacturers' Associa- 
tion, St.-Louis, Mo., and William Starr Mit- 
chell, Business Manager of the Arkansas 
" Democrat," Little Rock, Ark. Only two 
of the above-named were in any sense secret 
society men. These were members of the 
Freemasons and the Elks. With the excep- 
tion of Mr. Strauss they w r ere all camp fol- 
lowers who lived by, but not in, lumber ; 
people who, as a duty, attended probably 
thirty or forty meetings of the lumbermen 
annually, which were held in all parts of 
the United States. It was first suggested 
that the Order be called the Independent 
Order of Camp Followers, which, of 
course, would imply not actual lumber- 
men, but such people as railroad men, 
newspaper men, and those other j^eople who 
found it necessary to attend lumber retail 
and manufacturers' association meetings, 
but it was at once determined to make the 
matter vastly broader than that and have it 
include the lumbermen themselves. It is 
not out of the way to state that not one of 
those present had any idea that the Order 
then founded would ever have more than 
possibly one hundred members. 



The first regular Concatenation was held 
in the old St. Charles Hotel at New Orleans 
on February 18, 1892, and thirty-five of the 
leading lumbermen of the country were ini- 
tiated. It was not long until Concatena- 
tions were being held in several States. The 
Order is often spoken of as a lumber organ- 
ization on account of the fact that more 
lumbermen have availed themselves of the 
opportunity to become members of the 
Order than any other class who are eligible 
to membership. The word Hoo-Hoo and 
the word lumbermen have, by common 
usage, come to be almost synonymous terms. 
Under the constitution those who are eli- 
gible must be white male persons over the 
age of twenty-one years, of good moral 
character, and engaged in one or more 
of the following avocations: lumbermen, 
newspaper men, railroad men, and saw- 
mill machinery men. During the first year 
of the organization one lady, Mrs. M. A. 
Smith of Smithton, Ark., owning a saw- 
mill and railroad, was initiated, and has 
the honor of being the only lady member, 
as the constitution was changed at the next 
annual meeting. Those who founded the 
Order believed that the greatest achieve- 
ment known to humanity is to live a hearty, 
healthy, and happy life. Therefore, the 
objects of the Order, as stated in the con- 
stitution, are the promotion of the health, 
happiness, and long life of its members. 
Hoo-Hoo does not believe in accepting mem- 
bers from all walks and professions of life. 
Believing these things, the members of Hoo- 
Hoo have attempted to gather together peo- 
ple who have in a business sense a common 
interest. The constitution does not provide 
for sick, disability, or death benefits. Ever 
since its foundation, however, the Order has 
done in a quiet way some charitable work 
among its members. 

One of the objects of the Order is to assist 
a member in finding employment. The tra- 
ditions which were represented at the Gur- 
don meeting and about which the princi- 
ples cling, were of the black cat of the 



232 



DAUGHTERS MILITANT 



Egyptians, principally because the founders 
believed and still think that there is no one 
in all Christendom who knows very much 
about a cat. It was chosen because many 
people believe a black cat to be unlucky, 
and this Order among other things was 
to fight superstition and conventionalism. 
The Order of Hoo-Hoo has no lodge rooms, 
no enforced attendance at lodge meetings, 
no plumed helmets, and, without desiring 
to cast reflection on any worthy societies, 
has nothing that other orders possess that 
can in any way be avoided. The Hoo- 
Hoo might have been appropriately called 
the "Order of Acquaintance," as every 
member carries a handbook, published an- 
nually, which contains the business address 
of every member, arranged in such a way 
that the information cannot be used except 
by the initiated. The ritual of the society 
in a literary way compares most favorably 
with that of any of the secret societies. It 
is composed of some portions that are very 
serious, while others have for their object 
the amusement of those present. 

The executive affairs are administered by a 
Supreme Nine, and the judicial affairs and 
the care of its emblem are represented by the 
House of Ancients. The latter is a repository 
of the past executive rulers of the Order, 
membership in which body lasts for life. A 
striking and entertaining feature of the Hoo- 
Hoo Annual is the embalming of the Snark, 
his passing into the House of Ancients. 
The present members of the House of An- 
cients are B. Arthur Johnson, William Eddy 
Barns, and James E. Defebaugh. Every- 
thing in Hoo-Hoo goes by nines. The initi- 
ation fee is $9.99, the annual dues are 99 
cents; the annual business meeting of the 
Order is held on the ninth day of the ninth 
month. Annual meetings since the organiza- 
tion have been held at St. Louis, Chicago, 
Kansas City, Minneapolis, Nashville, and 
Detroit. The Supreme Nine consist of a 
Snark, a Senior Hoo-Hoo, Junior Hoo-Hoo, 
a Bojum, a Scrivenoter, a Jabberwock, a 
Custocatian, an Arcanoper, and a G-urdon. 



The work in each State or foreign country 
is under the supervision of a Vicegerent 
Snark, who has charge of Concatenations 
held in his territory. The membership of 
Hoo-Hoo is over 5,000, and is limited by 
the constitution to 9,999. 
.^Daughters Militant. — An organization 
of Avomen members of the society of Daugh- 
ters of Kebekah, a branch of the Indepen- 
dent Order of Odd Fellows, United States 
of America. (See the latter.) 
.') Daughters of Hermann. — Women's 
auxiliary to the Sons of Hermann. (See 
the latter.) 

Daughters of Rehekah. — A social and 
beneficiary secret society to which Odd Fel- 
lows and women relatives and friends are 
eligible. It was established .in 1851. (See 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, United 
States of America.) 

\ Daughters of St. George. — A charitable 
and benevolent secret sisterhood composed 
of women relatives of members of the Or- 
der, Sons of St. George. (See the latter.) 

Dramatic Order of Knights of 
Khorassan. — Prompted, perhaps, by a de- 
sire for Pythian seasons of relaxation and 
amusement of a spectacular as well as mys- 
tical character, leading spirits among the 
Knights of Pythias produced, full grown, 
in 1894, the Dramatic Order of the Knights 
of Khorassan, to which only Knights of 
Pythias are eligible. It is presided over by 
a Most Worthy and Illustrious Imperial 
Prince and is noteworthy, in addition to cre- 
ating new Knights of Khorassan, for illumi- 
nated pageants and fantastically costnmed 
processions between sessions of the Supreme 
Lodge of the Knights of Pythias. These 
Persian quality-folk are plainly suggested 
by the Arabic nobility, to join which one 
must be either a Masonic Knight Templar 
or a thirty-second degree Mason of the An- 
cient and Accepted Scottish Eite. The An- 
cient Arabic Order, Nobles of the Mystic 
Shrine, dates back a quarter of a century 
in the United States, and was followed a 
few years ago by the Imperial Order of 



FORESTERS OF AMERICA 



233 



Muscovites, which meets in Kremlins, and to 
which members of the Independent Order 
of Odd Fellows alone are eligible. Then 
came the Knights of Khorassan, of the 
Knights of Pythias, also with the word 
" Imperial " in its title. It meets in Tem- 
ples, as do the " Mystic Shriners,'' to which 
are also given Persian or Arabic names. 
There were thirty Temples of Knights of 
Khorassan represented at a meeting at 
Cleveland in 1896, at which time the mem- 
bership of this Pythian imperial appendix 
was 9,000, compared with 1,500 in Decem- 
ber, 1895. (See Knights of Pythias.) 

Foresters of America. — (See Ancient 
Order of Foresters.) The thirteenth meet- 
ing of the Subsidiary High Court of the 
Ancient Order of Foresters in America con- 
vened at Minneapolis August 13, 1889, 
and on the third day of the session, in a 
set of formal resolutions, reciting at length 
what has been explained regarding the dif- 
ferences between the English and Amer- 
ican affiliated Orders (see Ancient Order 
of Foresters), severed its connection with 
the High Court of the Ancient Order of 
Foresters, which had already been accom- 
plished by the action of the English High 
Court, and formed a Supreme Court of the 
Ancient Order of Foresters of America, with 
a new constitution and by-laws. Curiously 
enough, the newly organized American Or- 
der began with thirteen Grand Courts in 
thirteen States of the Union, subordinate to 
its Supreme Court. Its primary objects are 
to provide sick and funeral benefits for 
members and to contribute to their moral 
and material welfare and those dependent 
upon them. A feature of this Ancient 
Order of Foresters for a number of years 
was an endowment or insurance fund, not 
to exceed 82,000, for the benefit of widows, 
children, or other representatives ■ of de- 
ceased members. There are, in addition, 
sick, temporary relief, and burial funds. 
Membership is confined to white men from 
eighteen to fifty years of age, of good moral 
character, soundness of health and body, 



freedom from disease, and a belief in a 
Supreme Being. The government of the 
Order as well as its material benefits are in 
part patterned after those of the Odd Fel- 
lows, as, indeed, is the form of govern- 
ment of nine out of ten of the hundred and 
more mutual benefit assessment secret soci- 
eties which have sprung into existence in 
the United States within the past twenty- 
five years. 

The Supreme, formerly High, Court of the 
Foresters of America is composed of officers 
and representatives of Grand Courts, which 
in turn are made up of officers and repre- 
sentatives from subordinate Courts in States, 
territories, provinces, or countries. In ad- 
dition to declaring itself independent of the 
English Order, changing its name and the 
titles of governing Courts, the Ancient Or- 
der formulated new general laws, adopted 
new regalia and ritual, incorporated the 
American flag in its insignia, prefixed " Lib- 
erty" to the ancient motto of the Order, 
"Unity, Benevolence, and Concord," and 
established August 15th as "Foresters' 
Day," and the second Sunday in June as 
Memorial Day. In the United States the 
paraphernalia and ritual of Forestry have 
been elaborated more than in England, and 
in 1879 a benevolent branch of the Ancient 
Order, known as the Knights of the Sher- 
wood Forest, was instituted at St. Louis. 
At the Philadelphia Subsidiary High Court 
in 1883, this branch or appendant Order of 
Forestry was recognized as the second de- 
gree, and now constitutes the semi-military 
or uniformed body among this Order of For- 
esters, with a Supreme Conclave of the World 
numbering fifty subordinate Conclaves, and 
1,700 members. The Ancient Order of 
Shepherds became the third degree of the 
Order in 1889, shortly after the Minneapolis 
Convention, it having finally separated from 
English Forestry, by which it was incorpo- 
rated as the second degree in 1835. As in 
England, the Shepherds degree, while a bene- 
ficiary branch, has the distinctive aim to so- 
cially unite the brethren of different Courts. 



234 



GERMAN ORDER OF HARUGARI 



COMPARATIVE STATISTICS OF MEMBERSHIP OF VARIOUS ORDERS OF FORESTERS. 



Total 
Membership. 


Foresters- 

of 
America. 


Independent 
Order. 


United 
Order 
t (1st). 


Independent 
Order of 
Illinois. 


Canadian 
Order. 


Catholic 
Order. 


United 
Order 
II (2d). 


Irish 

National 

Order. 


(English) 
Ancient 
Order. 


1895 


119,000 

116,000 

114,000 

105,000 

91,000 

69,000 

56,000 

*29,000 

*24,000 


86,521 
70,055 
43,000 
32,303 
24,466 
16,000 
14,286 
4,628 
2,959 
1,700 
369 
11,000 
15,000 
13,976 
7,029 
500 




17,330 
18,375 
21,152 


20,791 

18,641 

16,295 

14,208 

12,514 

10,282 

8,625 

5,131 

4,305 

2,900 

1,710 

% 1,500 


34,847 
29,130 
27,000 


1,200 


1500 


881,000 
765.000 
750,000 


1894 




1893 






1892 








1891 














1890 






21,000 






694,000 


1889 










1886 














1885 














1883. 






§300 








1881 


*10,000 


X 13,000 










1880 


% 2,500 










1879 










543,000 


1878 
















1877 


















1874 


*2,300 
















1872 














277,000 


1864 


* 1 Court 


















1855 
















100,000 
66,000 


1845 


















1836 


















17,260 


1835 


















15,000 


1834 


* 1 Court 
119,000 
















12,000 
16,000 


1895, U. S. alone. 


37,008 


None 


17,330 




34,847 


1,200 


500 


1896, Canada 


22,651 


20,000 



















* These totals (prior to secession of 1889) refer to the Ancient Order of Foresters in the United States. 

t Died within next few years. X Secessions from the Independent Order. 

§ Secession from the Independent Order of Illinois. || Recent origin. 1 In the United States alone. 



A not less important branch is the Com- 
panions of the Forest, membership in which 
is confined to Foresters and women relatives 
and friends. The latter meet in Circles, the 
first of which was organized at San Fran- 
cisco in June, 1883. The Companions be- 
came the fourth degree of the Order at the 
Detroit Subsidiary High Court in 1885, and 
exercises an important influence in favor of 
the growth, stability, and popularity of the 
Order. This, as well as the preceding de- 
grees, makes provision for sick and dis- 
tressed members and the burial of the dead. 
By 1895, ten years after it had been offi- 
cially recognized, the Companions of the 
Forest numbered 20,000, showing a rapid- 
ity of growth and a degree of prosperity en- 
titling it to a share in the distinction which 
has been awarded the Daughters of Eebekah 
attached to the Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows. An outgrowth of the English 
Juvenile Foresters is found in the Junior 
Foresters of America, membership in which 
is confined to youths of from twelve to eigh- 
teen years of age. Its total membership is 
about 2,200. In the first six years of its in- 



dependent existence the Foresters of Amer- 
ica paid about $4,000,000 in endowments in 
addition to sick and funeral benefits. The 
new ritual naturally brings in Eobin Hood, 
but events in biblical history relative to the 
Garden of Eden are touched upon as well, 
the lesson taught being to help those less 
fortunate than the members of the society. 
From the date of the independence of the 
Foresters of America its extension has been 
steady and fruitful. 

German Order of Harugari. — Organ- 
ized in New York city in 1847, at a time 
when the Germans in the United States, 
among other foreigners, were antagonized 
by the dominance of native American sen- 
timent. The founders were Dr. Philipp 
Merkle, F. Germann, Th. Eodmann, J. De- 
ger, Y. Denzer, J. Germann, W. Schwarz, 
Peter Schnatz, A. Glahn, and S. Merz. 
The society was made up exclusively of Ger- 
mans, and formed not only an asylum or 
refuge but contemplated affording relief to 
its members in sickness and distress and car- 
ing for their widows and orphans. Yarious 
German societies existed here at that time, 



GRAND UNITED ORDER OF ODD FELLOWS 



235 



but, not being knit together, accomplished 
little in the face of the hostility with which 
German immigrants were then regarded. 
The Order was formed, in addition to the 
purposes specified, for the preservation of 
the German language, literature, customs, 
and traditions in America. This it has 
succeeded in doing during its fifty years of 
existence, which were duly celebrated at 
Newark, X. J., July 12, 1897, when it was 
announced that Philipp Merkle, Fredrech 
Germann, and Peter Schnatz, among the 
founders, alone survived. The name Haru- 
gari was identified with the ancient German 
tribe, the Cherusci, which was conquered 
by the Eomans under Tiberius, but achieved 
its independence, led by Arminius, when it 
defeated the Eomans under Varus. The 
name was taken from the old German. 
Haruc signified a forest, and the old Teu- 
tons who met in the forests were called 
Harugaris. The first Harugari Lodge was 
called after the great Cherusci leader, Ar- 
minia, Xo. 1. The motto adopted, follow- 
ing the example of older and similar or- 
ganizations, was " Friendship, Love, and 
Humanity." An exceptionally altruistic 
declaration of principles was adopted, fea- 
tures of which were the brotherhood of 
man and the desirability of working for 
the good of society in general instead of for 
self. The Order grew slowly, but soon made 
its appearance in Pennsylvania, thence in 
Illinois, and, successively, in Massachusetts, 
New Jersey, Maryland, and Ohio. It now 
has about 300 Lodges in twenty-seven States 
of the L T nion, and a total membership of 
about 30,000 men and women. Women 
members, which number about 7,000, meet 
in separate Lodges, which are governed and 
conducted as are those for men. Subordi- 
nate Lodges are under the direction of Grand 
Lodges, which, in turn, are controlled by 
the Grand Lodge of the United States. 
During a half century the German Order 
of Harugari has paid out more than $5,- 
000,000 for the relief of sick and distressed 
worthy members, their widows and orphans. 



One of the outgrowths of the organization 
is the Harugari Singing Society, to which 
20,000 members belong. 

Grand United Order of Galilean Fish- 
ermen. — Founded by Anthony S. Perpener 
'at Washington, D. C, in 1856, one of the 
oldest benevolent and beneficiary secret so- 
cieties in the country, membership in which 
is confined to negroes. It pays from 83 to 
15 a week in sick benefits, death benefits of 
from $300 to 84.00, and claims to be "one 
of the wealthiest institutions" of its kind 
in the L^nited States, as the aggregate value 
of the halls, land, personal property, bonds, 
etc., owned by it is about 8125,000. It will 
interest Scottish Eite Freemasons to learn 
that it claims Masonic origin, and that it 
displays the sacred emblem the fish as well 
as the passion cross, rose, and I X E I of 
the eighteenth degree of the Ancient Ac- 
cepted Scottish Eite. (See the account of 
the Ancient Accepted Scottish Eite among 
the negroes in the L^nited States.) The 
Order of Galilean Fishermen claimed 56,000 
members in 1897 in Lodges scattered from 
Xew England to the Gulf. Both men and 
women are eligible to membership. 

Grand United Order of Xazarites. — 
One of the older societies for the payment 
of sick and funeral benefits, it having been 
organized at Baltimore in 1863, primarily 
for charitable and fraternal purposes. Let- 
ters addressed to it are returned unopened, 
but the society evidently had an existence 
of nearly thirty years, as its title appears 
in the records of the census for 1890. 

Grand United Order of Odd Fel- 
lows. — It is singular, yet no more than 
a coincidence, that in 1813, the year fol- 
lowing the declaration of independence 
by the Independent Order of Odd Fel- 
lows, United States of America, from the 
English Independent Order, Manchester 
Lenity, a Lodge of colored Odd Fellows 
was established in the city of Xew York 
by the mother organization, the United 
Order of England, although prior to 1813 
there had been several Lodges of white 



236 



GRAND UNITED ORDER OF ODD FELLOWS 



Odd Fellows at and near Pottsville, Pa., 
holding allegiance to the Grand United 
Order in England. In 1842 Patrick H. 
Keason, James Fields, and others (negroes) 
of New York city, members of a social and 
literary society known as the Philomathean 
Institute, petitioned the American Inde- 
pendent Order — probably just prior to the 
secession of the latter from the Manchester 
Unity — for a dispensation to form the In- 
stitute into an Odd Fellows' Lodge. The 
petition was not granted because the signers 
were of African descent. But the latter 
with others, notably members of the Phila- 
delphia Library Company and Debating So- 
ciety, had seen and appreciated the need for 
societies affording mutual aid and protection 
in case of sickness and distress, and were de- 
termined not to be put off, as they believed, 
because of a prejudice against associating 
with people of color. Then it was that 
Peter Ogden, a negro member of Victoria 
Odd Fellows' Lodge, No. 448, at Liverpool, 
Grand United Order, a seafaring man, ad- 
vised that a dispensation be asked for a 
Lodge of Odd Fellows at New York, through 
Victoria Lodge, from the United Order of 
England. It will be borne in mind that 
that Independent Order of Odd Fellows, 
United States of America, then held alle- 
giance to or was just about severing it from 
the Independent Order, Manchester Unity, 
England, which, in 1813, seceded from the 
Grand United Order, which was then (1842- 
43) about to be asked to establish Lodges in 
the United States among petitioners of Afri- 
can descent. Peter Ogden's advice was 
taken. He sailed to Liverpool, and secured 
through Victoria Lodge and the governing 
body of the Order at Leeds a dispensation 
to institute Philomathean Lodge, No. 646, 
at New York city, which was formed March 
1, 1843. The four self-instituted white 
Lodges, chartered by the Grand United Or- 
der, situated near Pottsville, Pa., refused to 
recognize Peter Ogden as Deputy from the 
English Grand Body, because, as they ad- 
mitted, of a prejudice against associating 



with men of color. Whether they discon- 
tinued their Lodges or allied themselves 
with the American Independent Order is 
not known. Peter Ogden, the founder of 
the Grand United Order in this country, 
was of humble birth, but evidently of great 
energy. He enjoyed a superior education, 
which enabled him to lay broad and deep 
the foundations of the American branch of 
the parent stem of British Odd Fellowship. 
Neither the latter nor the former body 
prescribes conditions of race or color as 
requisites for membership, and the fact that 
the American branch is composed of men of 
African descent is due solely to its having 
been established by men of color with whom 
those of their own race have naturally asso- 
ciated. Ogden's published letters show him 
to have been a clever man. Evidently the 
English body acted wisely in making him 
their representative in the United States. 
He was the Thomas Wildey of his branch of 
American Odd Fellowship. Within four 
years (in 1847) there were twenty-two Ameri- 
can Lodges under Ogden's administration, 
and in 1851, eight years after Philomathean 
Lodge was organized, representatives from 
Lodges in New York, Pennsylvania, Con- 
necticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Dela- 
ware, and Maryland presented credentials 
at the meeting of the Annual Movable 
Committee, which met in New Haven,, 
Conn. 

Peter Ogden died in New York city in 
1852, and his name will undoubtedly be held 
in grateful remembrance by all members of 
the Order. By 1850 there were thirty-two 
Lodges of the Grand United Order in Amer- 
ica, and in 1860, sixty-six, of which seven- 
teen were not working, a net gain within 
seventeen years of forty- nine Lodges. When 
the questions agitating the public and the 
disturbed political conditions during those 
seventeen years are recalled, the progress 
achieved is seen to be creditable. At the 
celebration of the twentieth anniversary of 
the Order in the United States at Washing- 
ton, in 1863, it was announced there were 



GRAND UNITED ORDER OF ODD FELLOWS 



237 



fifty active Lodges in the United States, 
Canada, and Bermuda, with a total mem- 
bership of about 1,600. About $1,500 had 
been paid for relief of the sick and burial 
of the dead within a year, in addition to 
which 14,000 had been invested. In 1867 
the membership was 3,358, double the total 
four years before, and the number of Lodges 
was sixty-six. By 1873 the Order had ex- 
tended west to Colorado and south to Flor- 
ida. At that period the ritual was revised 
and improved. It divided the society, as now, 
into Lodges (symbolic color, white), House- 
hold of Ruth (color, blue), Past Grand Mas- 
ters' Councils, judicial branch (colors, scarlet 
and black), and Most Venerable Patriarchies 
(colors, royal purple and emerald green). 
During the next decade rapid progress was 
made, Lodges, Households, Councils, and 
Patriarchies being established with notice- 
able frequency. In 1879, according to offi- 
cial reports, the Order had "spread like 
wildfire " in Texas and the links of the 
fraternity had been extended to San Fran- 
cisco. The forty-first general meeting at 
Washington, 1892, was the largest gather- 
ing of its kind ever held. There were 400 
delegates present, among them clergymen, 
physicians, lawyers, bankers, merchants, 
manufacturers, army officials, and others 
from New England, California, Canada, the 
Gulf States, and Cuba, among them "a 
Spaniard from New York," and one other 
" white brother from Pennsylvania. " Since 
then the Order has continued to grow and 
prosper. Its English allegiance remains 
unshaken, and its hands are said to be ex- 
tended to all throughout the world who 
claim to be Odd Fellows. The single Lodge 
instituted at New York in 1843 through 
the efforts of Peter Ogden, has increased 
within fifty-three years to 2,253 Lodges, and 
the few original members to nearly 70,000. 
There are thirty-six Grand Lodges control- 
ling property valued at $1,500,000, and in 
1894-95 the Order paid out $84,000 for the 
relief of sick members, widows and orphans, 
and for funeral expenses. Besides 2,253 



Lodges there are 1,003 Households of Kuth 
having 40,00§ members, 182 Councils with 
3,420 members, and 88 Patriarchies with 
1,889 members. The growth of the Order 
since 1863 has been continuous, the mem- 
bership increasing seventy-two times within 
thirty-two years, and the annual expenditure 
for relief fifty-six times. The child with its 
various branches has evidently reached the 
stature of the parent, for the total member- 
ship of the British Grand United Order is 
only about 107,000, perhaps one-seventh of. 
that number being in Australia, East and 
West Indies, and Africa. Councils of Past 
Grand Masters or the Patriarchal Order of 
Past Grand Masters in America were estab- 
lished in 1844. Only Past Grand Masters 
are eligible to membership. Patriarchies, 
composed of Most Venerable Patriarchs 
(Past Grand Masters), who have rendered 
the Order particularly meritorious services, 
are an English adjunct of the Grand United 
Order of Odd Fellows, introduced into the 
American branch in 1873. It is unlike any 
similarly named division of any other branch 
of Odd Fellowship. In it are conferred 
three degrees, as is also the case in the 
Households of Ruth and Councils of Vener- 
able Grand Masters. The Household of 
the Degree of Ruth receives wives, widows, 
widowed mothers, sisters, and daughters of 
members of the Order, and Past Noble 
Grands among male members, and was sug- 
gested by Patrick H. Reason of Hamilton 
Lodge, No. 710, New York city, in 1856. 
In 1857 a ritual of this degree was submitted 
and forwarded to the English governing 
body, which approved it in time for its adop- 
tion in America in 1858. The first House- 
hold of Ruth was established at Harrisburg, 
Pa., in 1856. This branch of the Order, 
with its three degrees, has proved popular 
and numbered in ] 893 over 800 Households 
with 40,000 members. The ritual is orig- 
inal with the Grand United Order of Odd 
Fellows in America, and is founded, as may 
be inferred, on the story of Ruth and 
Naomi. 



238 



IMPERIAL ORDER OF MUSCOVITES 



Imperial Order of Muscovites, — See 

Independent Order of Qdd Fellows, United 
States of America. 

Improved Order, Knights of Pytli- 
ias. — The only break in the ranks of the 
Knights of Pythias has been the secession of 
some of the German-American members be- 
cause permission to conduct the work in the 
German language was withdrawn. The ac- 
tion of the Supreme Lodge of the Knights 
of Pythias, in 1892, in 1894, and again in 
1895, in declining to permit Lodges to ren- 
der the ritual in any other than the English 
language, when there were quite a number 
of Lodges in which it had been customary to 
use the German language during the cere- 
monies, resulted in the secession of mem- 
bers of a number of German Lodges. At 
Indianapolis, in June, 1895, the seceding 
element organized the Improved Order, 
Knights of Pythias. The schismatic branch 
has not grown rapidly, and the outlook is 
that the breach will be healed. 

Improved Order of Red Men. — The 
oldest charitable and benevolent secret so- 
ciety of American origin founded on aborig- 
inal American traditions and customs. Its 
government is modelled on the lines of Odd 
Fellowship, as are its practical aims, and, 
like Odd Fellowship, it has cut its cloth, but 
to a more limited extent, after Masonic pat- 
terns. Its claim to be "the oldest secret 
society of purely American origin in exist- 
ence," * rests on its being a virtual continu- 
ation of the Sons of Liberty formed prior to 
the War of the Revolution, and the secret 
societies to which the latter gave birth. The 
Greek letter college secret society, Phi Beta 
Kappa, was founded in 1776 (though it has 
not been secret since 1831), and the Col- 
lege Greek letter fraternities, Kappa Alpha 
(1825), Sigma Phi (1827), Delta Phi (1827), 
Alpha Delta Phi (1832), and Psi Upsilon 
(1833), well-known social and literary col- 
lege secret societies to this day, all antedate 

* Letter from Great Prophet Thomas E. Peckin- 
paugh, November 24, 1894. 



the establishment of the Improved Order of 
Red Men at Baltimore in 1834. In its tra- 
ditions, teachings, principles, and aspira- 
tions, the Improved Order of Red Men 
seeks to elevate the character, relieve the 
misfortunes, and add to the happiness of its 
novitiates. From the nature of its ceremo- 
nials, nomenclature, and legends, it ranks 
an acknowledged conservator of the his- 
tory, customs, and virtues of the aboriginal 
Americans. Local organizations are desig- 
nated Tribes; these are subordinate to Great 
(State) Councils, and the latter to the Great 
Council of the United States, which is the 
Supreme body. The ceremonials of Tribes 
are divided into the Degrees of Adoption, 
and the Hunter's, Warrior's, and Chief's 
Degrees. A few additional honorary de- 
grees or grades are attainable by those who 
have filled executive positions in Tribes and 
Great Councils, in addition to which there 
is the Beneficiary Degree, the Chieftain's 
League, described as the Uniformed Rank, 
and the Degree of Pocahontas, designed for 
women, but to which members who have re- 
ceived the Chief's Degree are also eligible. 

Candidates for the Improved Order of Red 
Men must be white citizens of the United 
States, twenty-one years of age, of good 
moral character, of sound health, and have 
a "belief in the existence of a Great Spirit 
in whom all power exists." North Ameri- 
can Indians are not eligible to membership. 
No question of politics or religion is allowed 
to enter the Wigwams, and as a man enters 
the Wigwam " so he departs — a free man." 
The nomenclature of the Order is rich 
with Indian expressions, words, and names. 
Members are said to attend a Council, in a 
Wigwam, on a certain Sun of a certain Moon 
of the Great Sun (year) of Discovery, i.e., 
discovery of America. The Council fire is 
kindled instead of the meeting being opened, 
and the close is described as the quenching 
of the Council fire. Fathoms, feet, and 
inches stand for dollars, dimes, and cents, 
and every adopted paleface receives a new 
proper name, often that of an animal, bird, 



IMPROVED ORDER OF RED MEN 



239 



or some quality or characteristic of mind or 
body. The names of officials are Indian, 
and methods of expression and rituals are, 
as may be supposed, replete with Indian 
words and figures of speech, many of the 
latter being picturesque, often poetical. 
The roll call of the Order shows more than 
140,000 members, exclusive of probably 
26,000 women members of Councils of the 
Degree of Pocahontas, a grand total of 166,- 
000. The annual receipts are in excess of 
$2,000,000, and the expenditures one-half 
of that sum, while investments of the or- 
ganization aggregate no less than 61,500,000. 

In summarizing the characteristics of 
this oldest American charitable, benevo- 
lent, and originally political secret society, 
it is proper to explain that from 1772 to 
1830, under its several forms, it was first 
political and afterward social or social and 
charitable in its objects. Xot until 1833-34 
were all the political features eliminated. 
In the eighteenth century the qualifications 
for membership were that the candidate 
should be, first, a citizen, and next of "cor- 
rect political principles." The value of this 
explanation lies in the fact, not heretofore 
pointed out, that from colonial days down to 
the present time we have not been without 
one or more great secret, political societies, 
except, perhaps, for a decade or more at the 
close of the first half of the present century. 

Xot since its reorganization i n 1 834 lias the 
Improved Order of Red Men tolerated po- 
litical or religious discussions in its Coun- 
cils. But with the advent of the United 
Order of American Mechanics in 1845 and 
other American secret societies which have 
taken a more or less active interest in political 
questions, we find a direct continuation by 
means of secret societies of something akin 
to the activity which marked the earlier Red 
Men's or Tamina Societies from 1772 to 
1830. The Red Men, as now organized, 
was founded at Baltimore, Md., 1833-34, 
the natural outgrowth of the secret soci- 
eties of Red Men which flourished at or 
near the centres of population from the 



Hudson to the Potomac for twenty years 
following the War of 1812. The genealogy 
of the Order, as given in the " Official His- 
tory of the Improved Order of Red Men" 
(edited by Charles H. Litchman, Past Great 
"Ocohonee, The Fraternity Publishing Com- 
pany, Boston), traces the line of descent 
from the patriotic societies of colonial days. 
These were the Sons of Liberty, 1765, the 
Saint Tamina Society at Annapolis, 1771, 
and the Society of Red Men organized at 
Fort Mifflin on the Delaware in 1813 — " cer- 
tainly prior to 1816 " — which incorporated 
the usages, names, and ceremonies of the 
Saint Tamina, or Tammany societies. The 
first society of Red Men had an existence of 
twenty years when it succumbed to the dom- 
inance of conviviality, which, by the way, 
was a primary cause of the first great schism 
in English Odd Fellowship in 1813. Dur- 
ing and subsequent to the War of the Revo- 
lution, Saint Tamina appeared to have been 
popular with citizens and soldiers alike. 
Saint Tamina* Day, May 12th, was ob- 

* Tammany (or Tamina, Tammanen, Temeny, 
Tamanend, Tamane. or Tamaned, said to mean 
"the Affable ") was a distinguished Indian chief, 
said to be both merciful and brave, a cultivator of 
the arts of peace as well as those of war. One ac- 
count states that he was a Delaware, at the head of 
the Lenni Lenape confederacy, and that his wig- 
wam once stood where Princeton College is located. 
It is also declared he lived in Pennsylvania, near the 
Schuylkill, and was buried about four miles from 
Doylestown, Bucks County. While not authenti- 
cated, he is declared to have been at the Great 
Council under the elm tree at Shakamaxon, after 
Penn's first arrival in America. His name appears 
on the treaty for the purchase of lands by Penn 
in 1682, but not on the subsequent treaty " by 
which a large portion of Pennsylvania was ac- 
quired." The inference, therefore, has been drawn 
that Tammany died between those years. The 
purely legendary accounts of Tammany, which, 
perhaps, may be presumed to have a place in the 
ceremonials of the Improved Order of Red Men, 
embody the oldest story in history, the struggle 
between good and evil, between Tammany, the 
great and good chief of the tribes between the Alle- 
ghenies and the Rockies prior to the discoveries of 
De Soto or La Salle, and the Evil Spirit. For 



240 



IMPROVED ORDER OF RED MEN 



served by the army from the time of the 
Bevolution until the practice was forbidden 
just prior to the War of 1812. 

Extract from "Myths and Legends of 
our own Land," by Charles M. Skinner ; 
published by J. B. Lippincott Co., Phila- 
delphia, 1896. 

The aborigines, whatever may be said against 
them, enjoyed natural beauty, and their habitations 
were often made in this delightful region, their 
councils being attended by Chief Tamanend, or 
Tammany, a Delaware, whose wisdom and virtues 
were such as to raise him in the place of patron 
saint of America. The notorious Tammany Society 
of New York is named for him. When this chief 

years the two waged a bitter warfare, the latter 
sending plagues of poison sumach and stinging 
nettles, rattlesnakes and mammoths, all of which 
Tammany overcame. The Evil Spirit then dammed 
up what are now called the Detroit and Niagara 
Rivers, threatening the overflow of the trans-Alle- 
gheny region, which the great chief overcame by 
digging the drains which are now the Miami, 
Wabash, Allegheny, and Ohio Rivers. After Tam- 
many had overcome the tribes of the North and 
East, which had been sent to overcome him by his 
enemy, after he had astonished them by treating 
them leniently instead of torturing them, he en- 
gaged in a personal encounter with the Evil Spirit 
and nearly slew him, forcing him to retreat to the 
remote regions of Labrador and Hudson's Bay. 
This was followed by a season of peace, in which 
agriculture was prominent, and " Tammany and 
Liberty " were said to be the watchwords of his 
people. The precepts which Tammany delivered to 
his followers, prior to visiting Mexico to meet the 
Inca of Peru and advise him as to his form of 
government (according to "the researches of the 
late Dr. Samuel L. Mitchell"), are cleverly com- 
posed. They consist of brief addresses to Chil- 
dren of the Thirteen Tribes, in which he counsels 
them as to their action, citing the characteris- 
tics of the Eagle, Tiger, Deer, Wolf, Buffalo, Dog, 
Beaver, Squirrel, Fox, Tortoise, Eel, Bear, and Bee 
for illustration. On his return from Mexico, Tam- 
many found his old enemy had instilled notions of 
idleness and dissipation into the minds of his people, 
which he finally overcame. He lived to an unusual 
age, in peace and happiness, and was wonderfully 
beloved. Great honor was paid him after death, 
and the legend says he lies buried under that won- 
derful monument, "second only " in size and labor 
to the Pyramids, the great Indian fort near Musk- 
ingum. 



became old and feeble, his tribe abandoned him in a 
hut at New Britain, Penn., and there he tried to 
kill himself by stabbing, but failing in that he 
flung burning leaves over himself and so per- 
ished. He was buried where he died. It was a 
princess of this tribe that gave the name of Lover's 
Leap to a cliff on Mount Tammany, by leaping 
from it to her death, because her love for a young 
European was not reciprocated. 

The Sons of Liberty, which became a 
secret revolutionary society, first appeared 
in Maryland in 1764-65, as organized oppo- 
sition to "taxation without representation, " 
the "stamp act/' the "quartering act/' 
and other oppressive legislation. It was 
Colonel Isaac Barre, among the few mem- 
bers of Parliament who opposed the passage 
of the stamp act, in 1765, and called the 
opposing parties in the colonies " the Sons 
of Liberty." As declared in the Official 
History, that name was immediately after- 
ward adopted by the society. The early 
history of the colony of Maryland is au- 
thority for the statement that the Sons of 
Liberty "claimed a genuine Indian chief- 
tain as its tutelar saint and patron." The 
formation of a Saint Tamina Society at 
Annapolis, in 1771, is, therefore, a natural 
sequence, amounting, practically, to a change 
only of name of one of the societies of the 
Sons of Liberty. The secrecy attached to 
both organizations was the natural outcome 
of their persistent and consistent opposition 
to the English Government in view of the 
consequences of rebellion. The career of 
the Sons of Liberty in Massachusetts, 1765- 
1774, is familiar to every American, includ- 
ing the boarding of English vessels in 
Boston harbor by forty or fifty "Mohawk 
Indians," who emptied 342 chests of tea 
into the bay as a protest against the tax on 
tea. 

The fact that the modern Improved 
Order of Bed Men of 1834 continues the 
Indian ceremonials, nomenclature, and cus- 
toms adopted by the Sons of Liberty, and 
by them, in part at least, transmitted to 
succeeding organizations, may or may not 
be rendered of special significance when one 



IMPROVED ORDER OF RED MEN 



241 



is reminded that the forty or fifty " Mohawk 
Indians " who threw the tea into Boston 
harbor were nearly all members of a Boston 
Lodge of Freemasons. Yet this certainly 
points to a general membership of Free- 
masons in the Sons of Liberty and may ex- 
plain how and why the ceremonial fabric 
of earlier Eed Men's societies was em- 
broidered after Masonic designs, even though 
with novel material. Paul Revere, himself, 
at one time Grand Master of Freemasons of 
Massachusetts, was sent with news of the 
i( tea party " to New York and Philadelphia. 
The activity of the Sons of Liberty at Bal- 
timore and elsewhere in Maryland as early as 
1766-77, gave rise to the organization of St- 
George's, St. Andrew's, and St. David's 
societies in that State, composed of those 
who were loyal to the British crown, and it 
is explained that in order to ridicule those 
organizations, the Sons of Liberty "claimed 
the patronage of an undoubted American, 
an Indian chief or kiug named Tamina or 
Tamanend " whose life and exploits they 
professed to trace from his own descendants. 
The Sons of St. Tamina, after the War of 
the Revolution, constituted the organized 
embodiment of popular patriotism and 
loyalty ; of antagonism to the writings of 
Paine, Rousseau, and Voltaire ; opposition 
to resident royalists and those among the 
Federalists who talked of and for a dicta- 
torship, or presidency for life ; and, lastly, 
was actively opposed to the Society of 
the Cincinnati, as then regarded, with its 
hereditary membership and alleged anti- 
republican features. Thus the affiliated 
Sons of Saint Tamina, who employed the 
disguise of Indians and secrecy to conceal 
the identities of members, who, if success- 
ful were to be patriots, and, if unsuccessful, 
rebels, found new reasons for existence, not 
least among them being the tendency, as 
they believed, of a return to royal customs, 
particularly through the elevation of the 
military above the civilian. This spirit 
first showed itself in the formation of the 
Tamina (now Tammany) Society, or Colum- 
16 



bian Order, at New York city in 1789, 
which exists to this day. The new form of 
the name is due to a compromise, the origi- 
nal idea having been to discontinue a refer- 
ence to Saint Tammany and call the society 
after Columbus. It should be added that 
this New York branch is the only one which 
preserves an unbroken chain of existence 
back to the patriotic societies founded in 
the early portion of the latter half of the 
eighteenth century. The Grand Sachem 
of the Columbian Order, or Tammany Soci- 
ety, incorporated, which exists only at New 
York, is the president of that organization. 
The latter owns the building known as 
Tammany Hall, on Fourteenth Street, New 
York city, and is nominally, if not actually, 
a more or less secret charitable society. It 
is secret, at least, in that only its members are 
present at its meetings, which constitute its 
only known activity. It should not be 
necessary to add that it is in no wise con- 
nected with the widespread secret society 
known as the Improved Order of Red Men, 
which has the same ancestry. This will 
make plain the apparent similarity in official 
titles and reported Indian ceremonials at 
the reception of new members by both the 
New York City Tammany Society and by 
the Improved Order of Red Men. Allied 
to but distinct from the Tammany Society 
is the political organization known as 
Tammany Hall, although the latter is to 
an extent controlled by the former. Some 
Tammany Society members have been con- 
spicuous for their opposition to the Tam- 
many Hall political organization. Governor 
Tilden Avas a member of the Tammany 
Society when he was fighting the Tweed 
ring, and so was Abram S. Hewitt. Maurice 
J. Power is stated to have been a member 
of Tammany Society while leader of the old 
New York County Democracy which an- 
tagonized Tammany Hall. 

A society known as the American Sons of 
King Tammany was founded at Philadel- 
phia in 1772, one year later than the one 
with a like name at Annapolis,, although 



242 



IMPROVED ORDER OF RED MEN 



claiming a previous existence of " some 
years, " which, as a patriotic and afterwards 
political and benevolent society, was patron- 
ized by many of the first citizens of Penn- 
sylvania. A Saint Tammany Society, or 
Columbian Order, like that at New York, 
was founded at Baltimore in 1805 and be- 
came a purely secret political organization, 
with " a characteristic word " to gain ad- 
mission to its gatherings, but it was not 
long-lived. The Annapolis society preserved 
a continuous existence until 1810. Another 
outgrowth of the early secret societies with 
Indian ceremonials was the Kickapoo Ami- 
cable Association which existed at Washing- 
ton in 1804. No Saint Tammany societies 
are recorded north or east of New York 
city, which is natural, when it is recalled 
that the hunting grounds of the Lenni 
Lenape extended over what are now New 
Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and part 
of Maryland.* The Saint Tamina (and 
Tammany) societies of 1771-1810, or 
later, were, at first, political organiza- 
tions. Most or all of them afterward 
become social and benevolent in their 
purposes, with the accent in some instances 
more on the social than the benevolent 
features. In the third stage of their devel- 
opment they again became distinctively 
political, and from 1790 to 1810 many am- 
bitious political leaders were enrolled among 
them. A military company was stationed 
at Fort Mifflin, about four miles below Phil- 
adelphia, on the Delaware River, in 1812, 
" composed of sons of leading men of 
Philadelphia," among whom, in 1813, 
originated a Society of Red Men. The 
claim is made that members of Saint Tamina 
societies were among the founders, and that 
the Indian usages, ceremonials, customs, 
and nomenclature which the Sons of Libert} 7 

* The reports of the Grand Lodge of Freemasons 
of North Carolina record the institution of St. Tam- 
many Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons, Decem- 
ber 25, 1795, at Wilmington in that State, the 
founders being desirous of escaping the "too fre- 
quent calling from labor to refreshment." 



transmitted to the Sons of Saint Tamina 
were made the basis of the ritual used. One 
of the most prominent officials of the new 
organization was a Freemason. The pur- 
poses of this society, as indicated by the 
preamble of the constitution of the Red 
Men's Society of Pennsylvania, were not 
only social, " but to relieve each other in 
sickness and distress " and to " adhere to 
each other in defence of our country's 
cause." The prominence now given to re- 
lief from distress among members of the 
Improved Order of Red Men suggests the 
only conjecture found as to why the name 
Red Men was substituted for Tammany. 
Tammany societies had first and last been 
political rather than otherwise. Under the 
new dispensation of mutual relief a different 
name was needed, yet one in harmony with 
the character and traditions of the organi- 
zations of which this was merely an adapta- 
tion. For that matter, Saint Tammany 
societies still continued to exist, notably at 
Philadelphia until 1822, and many were 
known to have held membership in them 
and the new Society of Red Men. In con- 
sequence of the War of 1812, reorganization 
became necessary, which was accomplished 
in 1816, after which the work of extension 
was pushed. Records are meagre prior to 
1821, yet mention is made of a Tribe at 
Charleston, 1818-21, which is striking, as 
no slaveholder could become a member. 
At about the same period the society found 
lodgment in New Jersey, and a little later, 
probably, in New York. Tribes were estab- 
lished at Lancaster, Pa., in 1819; at Wil- 
mington, Del., in 1823 ; at Albany in 1826, 
and at Baltimore about that time or soon 
after. In the period 1826-28 a Tribe was 
formed at Reading, Pa., which achieved 
distinction by maintaining an independent 
existence as a society of Red Men until 
1854, before consenting to be absorbed by 
the Improved Order of Red Men which was 
founded at Baltimore in 1834 after the 
collapse of the Society of Red Men. The 
latter would appear to have been quite 



IMPROVED ORDER OF RED MEN 



243 



prosperous in 1821, holding regular month- 
ly meetings in Philadelphia and elsewhere, 
assisting distressed brothers and their 
families and burying their dead. It is 
not unlikely that at that period it was more 
successful than the Independent Order of 
Odd Fellows, which was established at 
Baltimore in 1819, three years after the re- 
organization of the Society of Eed Men at 
Philadelphia. It is not even unlikely that 
so late as 1825, when the Independent Order 
of Odd Fellows numbered, all told, only 
about 500 members, that the Red Men were 
far stronger numerically. 

With the final dissolution of Saint Tam- 
many societies in Philadelphia, about 1822, 
many members joined the Eed Men. Others 
had been members of both organizations. 
From 1823 to 1827, Saint Tammany's Day, 
May 12th, was duly celebrated, and in the 
announcements of the ceremonies with 
which the Red Men were to welcome La- 
fayette to Philadelphia the somewhat 
surprising mention is made of George 
Washington as our "late Grand Sachem. " 
No explanation is obtained of the marked 
decline of the society from 1827 to 1830, 
though one may suppose the anti-Masonic 
excitement had something to do with it. 
One chronicler attributes the numerous 
resignations and lack of interest to mem- 
bers haying become " too clannish, espe- 
cially at Philadelphia." It is admitted, 
however, that for some time meetings had 
been held at or over taverns and that 
adjournments for convivial purposes had 
caused great dissatisfaction and many with- 
drawals from membership. By 1830, or 
soon after, except at Philadelphia and a 
few other points, the society was practically 
dead, which closes the second epoch in the 
life of the organization which was revived 
at Baltimore in 1834 as the Improved 
Order of Red Men. 

There are two claims as to the date of 
the organization of the Improved Order of 
Red Men. One gives it March 12, 1834, at 
the house of D. McDonald, Bond Street, 



FelFs Point, Baltimore, under the name, 
Society of Red Men, Tribe of Maryland, 
No. 1, while the other declares the pre- 
liminary meeting to have been held in 
_ December, 1833, and the meeting of perma- 
nent organization early in 1834, certainly 
during the winter season. According to 
the latter version, at Elisha Snike's Tem- 
perance House, Thames Street, Logan 
Tribe, No. 1, Order of Red Men, after- 
wards rechristened Logan Tribe, No. 1, 
Improved Order of Red Men, was organized 
as a protest against the dominance of social 
proclivities, an association " for mutual 
fraternity and benevolence." It adopted 
the motto, "Freedom, Friendship, and 
Charity/' George A.. Peter was the first 
Sachem of Logan Tribe, and is regarded as 
the founder of the Improved Order of Red 
Men. The first act of Logan Tribe was to 
prohibit meetings in buildings where liquor 
was sold, and the next to get rid of mem- 
bers who opposed such action. With such 
success did the Improved Order meet that 
a second Tribe was instituted at Baltimore 
in 1834, and delegates from the two Tribes 
established a Grand Council of Maryland, 
May 20, 1835, of which William T. Jones 
was the first Great Sachem. The Grand 
Council instituted a third Tribe in 1838, 
and with a growing, zealous membership 
the new organization seemed on the high 
road to prosperity ; notwithstanding, only 
two Tribes, Numbers 1 and 3, remained in 
existence as late as 1840. The Order con- 
tinued to grow in Baltimore, and in 1844 
and 1845 Tribes were established in Wash- 
ington, which also organized a Great Coun- 
cil. A Great Council of the United States 
was formed by the Great Councils of Mary- 
land and the District of Columbia in 1847, 
and incorporated. Just prior to that time 
there were ten Tribes in existence, six in 
Maryland, two in the District of Columbia, 
and two in Virginia, under the jurisdiction 
of the Great Council of the Federal district. 
The disputants of the foregoing account 
claim that Logan Tribe, No. 1, was not 



244 



IMPROVED ORDER OF RED MEN 



formed until May 12, 1836, being organized 
by withdrawing members of Tribe of Mary- 
land, No. 1, organized March 12, 1834. 
Documentary evidence is wanting, and the 
recollections of aged members are all that 
remain on either side. The first three or 
four years in the life of the Great Council 
of the United States were filled with hard 
work. New Tribes were instituted in 
Pennsylvania and in Delaware in 1847, and 
in New York in 1848, where " ancient " or 
hold-over Orders of Eed Men were dis- 
covered. The latter readily recognized the 
authority of the Great Council of the 
United States and applied for and received 
charters as Tribes of the Improved Order. 
In 1850 a Tribe was formed at Newark, 
N. J., and soon after at Camden in the 
same State. The period 1835 to 1860 was 
one of upbuilding, following the anti-Ma- 
sonic agitation ; it was not only a quarter 
of a century of prosperity in the life of all 
then existing secret fraternities, but gave 
birth to a number of similar societies which 
are still active and growing. The Improved 
Order of Eed Men, as now formed, was 
born promptly after the recession of the 
anti-Masonic wave, and by the time it was 
thirteen years old, in the year the Great 
Council of the United States was formed, 
the customary reaching-out after more or 
" higher " degrees was experienced in an 
agitation which afterward resulted in the 
establishment of Beneficial Degree Councils 
and a Chieftain's League, and in the desire 
to have business of Councils done in the 
Chief's or highest degree. It was also in 
1847 that a demand was made for a revision 
of the ritual and for a uniform regalia, both 
of which were secured by 1850. In the 
year last mentioned the permanence of the 
growth of the Order was attested by the 
schism of Metamora Tribe of Baltimore, 
working in the German language. Meta- 
mora Tribe had refused to pay a benefit 
even after the Great Council of Maryland 
and the Great Council of the United States 
had decided it was legal. It therefore sur- 



rendered its charter and formed an Inde- 
pendent Order of Red Men. Most of the 
few German Tribes or Stamms of 1850 were 
asked to join in the secession, but few if 
any did so. This schismatic order had be- 
fore it the precedent of the " Ancient" 
Masonic Grand Lodge of England, one 
hundred years before, and the cutting loose 
of the Manchester Unity (English) Odd 
Fellows from the Grand United (parent) 
Order in 1813 ; but in this instance no 
like measure of success has been attained. 
The fact that the Independent Order of Red 
Men uses the German language naturally 
circumscribes its field, yet it planted its 
Stamms in New York, New Jersey, Penn- 
sylvania, Maryland, Ohio, West Virginia, 
Illinois, Missouri, Louisiana, California, 
Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and in a few 
other States. Its maximum membership 
during forty-five years has been 12,000. 
During the past fifteen years it is declared 
by officials of the Improved Order that 
many members of Stamms or Tribes of the 
Independent Order have returned and at- 
tached themselves to the trunk of the 
parent tree. From 1851 to 1860 the prin- 
cipal work aside from extension was directed 
to obtaining a new and satisfactory ritual. 
So much difficulty attended this that the 
Great Council of the United States offered 
a premium to the brother who would pro- 
duce one that would prove satisfactory. It 
is noteworthy that a proposition to estab- 
lish a Pocahontas Degree was made in ,1852, 
by Brother George Percy of Virginia, and 
again in 1853. The Independent Order of 
Odd Fellows produced their Rebekah De- 
gree for wives, mothers, and daughters of 
Odd Fellows in 1851, and Percy's Degree of 
Pocahontas was probably suggested by it. 

The extension of the Order called for con- 
siderable activity, when the natural effects 
of the business depression of 1857-58 are 
considered. Tribes were formed in Ohio 
in 1852 ; North Carolina, Kentucky, and 
Massachusetts in 1853 ; Indiana, Illinois, 
Iowa, and California in 1854 ; Louisiana 



IMPROVED ORDER. OF RED MEN 



245 



and Missouri in 1856 ; Connecticut in 1858, 
and in Mississippi in 1859. Serious dissen- 
sions among Tribes in Pennsylvania and 
New York marked this period, and Tribes 
iu the latter gave up their charters. To 
this time Maryland, the home of the Or- 
der, continued to report the largest total 
membership, and Baltimore remained to 
be the place of the annual meeting of the 
Great Council of the United States. Sev- 
eral changes were made in the title of offi- 
cers in 1853, and in 1854 a ritual was 
adopted for "raising up Chiefs." Over- 
tures were made to the "ancient" (unrec- 
onciled) Order of Red Men at Reading, 
Pa., in 1853, looking to union, and in 1854 
a committee was appointed to form a " gen- 
eral recognition sign." The public appre- 
ciation of the high standing of the Order at 
that time is shown by the latter having 
been invited to lay the cornerstone of a new 
Custom House at Wheeling, (now West) 
Virginia, which ceremony, although hardly 
in line with the traditions of the society, 
it performed satisfactorily. The period of 
the Civil War, 1861-G5, was marked by a 
falling off of about one-third of its member- 
ship. No national Council was held in 
1862 or 1864. In 1861 a Beneficial Degree 
ceremonial for opening and closing was 
adopted, and in 1863, after many years 
of effort, there was secured a "complete 
symmetrical and attractive ritual." By 
1865 membership began to increase again, 
and the growth of the Order was rapid, 
many Tribes being revived and new ones 
established, notably at the South. It was 
in this year, also, the Order began the use of 
the official date, from the Great Sun (year) 
of Discovery," i.e., discovery of America. 
In 1867 the Great Council of the United 
States was held at Philadelphia. There 
was another revision of the ritual in 1868, 
and from 1866 to 1870 inclusive the work 
of rehabilitation and extension was pushed, 
Tribes being established in Texas in 1866, 
in Tennessee and Michigan in 1868, and in 
Alabama in 1869. In the latter year, and 



again in 1870, unsuccessful efforts were 
made to absorb the Independent (German 
schismatic) Order of Red Men. In 1870 
the use of the apron as a part of the regalia 
of Red Men was discarded. For about a 
dozen years after the founding of the Im- 
proved Order, its growth was irregular and 
its future uncertain, and it was not until 
the formation of the Great Council of the 
United States in 1847 that statistical data 
of value were obtained. Comparisons dur- 
ing the first twenty-three years of the life 
of the Order are as follows : 

1847 1850 1860 1870 

Total No. of Jurisdictions 5 5 11 21 

Total No. Tribes * 12 45 94 296 

Total No. members 1,168 3,175 9,096 23,784 

Total relief paid brethren... $1,705 $4,015 $15,065 $48,643 

Total relief paid widows .... 1,539 2,358 7,890 12,192 

Total relief paid for educa- I „_, ..„ tdn „_ 

tion \ W 103 440 378 

Total receipts of the Order . . 5,396 181,925 

* About that number. 

This comparison shows that within 
twenty-three years the membership in- 
creased twenty times, and the number of 
Tribes twenty-five times, total annual re- 
ceipts thirty-six .times, and the total annual 
payments for relief, benefits, funerals and 
education, thirty-six times. The decade 
1870-1880 opened auspiciously, but follow- 
ing the panic of 1873 there were four or 
five years of declining membership and 
financial stringency, which began with an 
unusually large expenditure in 1874 by 
the Great Council of the United States for 
mileage and per diem. This left practi- 
cally no funds for expenses of organizers 
of new Tribes. Renewed but unsuccessful 
efforts were made in 1873 and in 1878 to 
consolidate with or harmonize schismatic 
or other "Bed Men," and in 1873-74 fur- 
ther attempts were made to establish a 
degree for women, and to have the work 
of Tribes conducted in the Chieftain's De- 
gree. The example and popularity of the 
Masonic Orders of Knighthood and of the 
Encampment Degrees of Odd Fellowship 
are doubtless seen in a proposition, in 1877, 
to establish a new or uniformed degree of 
Red Men, in which the continental uniform 
of Revolutionary days was to be worn. A 



246 



IMPROVED ORDER OF RED MEN 



standard or banner of the Order was adopted 
in 1875. In 1876 a system of life insurance 
to the amount of $2,000 was suggested, and 
was put into operation in 1877. One would 
naturally suppose, after noting the doing 
away with aprons, that the Order would 
have seen the anomalousness of adopting a 
ceremony to be used in laying "corner 
stones of wigwams/' yet such a ceremony 
was adopted by the Great Council of the 
United States in 1876. The year 1877 was 
marked by establishing a Tribe on the Ha- 
waiian Islands, but, notwithstanding King 
Kalakaua and other distinguished residents 
of the then Island kingdom were mem- 
bers, this outpost of' Improved Ked Men 
did not long survive. Prior to 1870, the 
Order, while growing and prosperous, num- 
bered only about 20,000 members, and con- 
trasted with some other secret societies at 
that time it was comparatively obscure. 
The effects of the check to its growth, 
which revealed itself about 1875-76 and 
continued several years, are shown by the 
following official exhibits : 

1875 * 1879 1880 t 

Total No. Jurisdictions 35 32 33 

Total No. Tribes 582 505 491 

Total No. members 40,504 28,075 27,214 

Total amt. relief paid brethren.. $91,520 $79,811 $71,237 

Total amount relief paid wid- } evv nnl 

ows and orphans f 20 < 16 ' 2 ' ' 61 8 ' 694 

Total amount paid education* ,„„ _„., __.„ 

orphans f 463 152 25 ° 

Total receipts 315,245 234,049 244,276 

* High water mark to that date. 

+ Low point after the decline which began in 1875-76. 

Thus within four years the number of 
Tribes fell off almost 20 per cent., and the 
total membership nearly one-third. The 
amount paid brethren for relief diminished 
22 per cent., and that for aid of widows and 
orphans 55 per cent., while the sum paid 
annually for educating orphans decreased 
45 per cent. The total amount expended 
annually for relief was more than 28 per 
cent, smaller in 1880 than in 1875, while 
the grand total of receipts shrunk 22 per 
cent, during the same period. In 1880, 
however, with the revival in general trade, 
the Order awakened and a new career of 
growth and prosperity followed, the end of 
which is not yet. The panic of 1893 and 



consequent depression in industrial and 
commercial lines had a perceptible effect on 
the membership in 1894, the net loss being 
about 4,000 ; yet so great was the headway 
of the organization that the check was only 
temporary. 

The degree of Daughters of Pocahontas 
was adopted in 1885 and established in 
1887, after repeated efforts to secure such 
a degree since 1852. The name of the 
degree was taken, as may be supposed, from 
the historical character Pocahontas. Any 
woman over eighteen years of age and of 
good moral character is now eligible to 
membership. The degree has proved pop- 
ular, as shown by its 26,000 women members. 

A Chieftain's League was established in 
1886-87 to gratify the desire for a uniformed 
degree. In 1889 a separate government 
was granted the Chieftain's League, with 
the qualification that only Eed Men should 
be eligible to membership, but this did 
not prove as successful as expected. 

It was in 1889 that the Great Council of 
the United States finally consented to have 
the business of the Tribes conducted in the 
Chieftain's Degree. A general review of 
the growth of the Order is shown in the 
following comparisons : 

1847* I860 1879 1895 

Total No. Jurisdictions 5 11 32 32 

Total No. Tribes 12 94 505 1,678 

Total No. members 1,168 9,096 28,079 133,485 

Total relief paid brethren... $1,705 $15,065 $79,811 $319,252 

Total relief paid widows \ j 539 7 890 2 ,761 8,892 

and orphans j 

Total amount paid educa- / -^ 440 152 f 80 163 

tion orphans f 

Total amount receipts 5,396 ■ 234,049 1,087,787 

* Present Order organized 1834. t For burial of the dead. 

From the foregoing it is gathered that in 
forty-eight years the number of Tribes has 
increased 140 times, the total membership 
114 times, and the total annual receipts of 
the Order 201 times, while the total amount 
of relief paid annually was nearly ninety-five 
times larger in 1895 than in 1847. The fore- 
going outline marks the organization as hav- 
ing in some respects particularly attractive 
characteristics among the many important 
and successful charitable and benevolent 
secret societies in the United States. Its 



INDEPENDENT ORDER OF ODD FELLOWS 



217 



distinctively American origin, its tendency 
to stimulate interest in the early history of 
the country and the entertaining details 
which have been preserved respecting its 
evolution from the patriotic and political 
societies of Eevolutionary days into a mod- 
ern social, charitable, and benevolent secret 
fraternity, should form a substantial basis 
for permanent growth and prosperity. 

Independent Order, Mystic Brothers. 
— Founded at Boston in 1882 to pay weekly 
sick benefits of $3. It was in existence in 
1890, but is now untraced. 

Independent Order of Odd Fellows. — 
The first recorded Lodge of Odd Fellows 
(England) was Loyal Aristarcus, No. 9, 
1745,* at the Oakley Arms, South wark, 
Globe Tavern, Hatton Garden, or the 
Boar's Head in Smithfield, " as the Noble 
Master may direct." The London " Gentle- 
man's Magazine " refers to the Odd Fellows 
Lodge as a place where very comfortable 
and recreative evenings might be ■ spent. 
Daniel Defoe also mentions the society of 
Odd Fellows. One writer states that the 
society in its earlier days evidently had for 
its objects, beefsteak, tripe, ale and the like ; 
but in some of its Lodges contributions 
were made to a fund from which relief was 
afforded needy and unfortunate brethren. 
The membership was originally largely com- 
posed of day laborers and mechanics. They 
were not overburdened with funds, but, as 
explained, mutual relief from sickness and 
distress was afforded through voluntary 
contributions by members and visitors at 
Lodge meetings. Sometimes " a whole 
lodge would visit another lodge, each 
member making a contribution/' and, if 
needed, w^ould continue to visit week after 
week until the needs of the particular Lodge 
were met. This was the beginning of the 
existing system of paying " weekly dues 
and benefits/' Before the end of the last 
century the practice of holding meetings at 
public houses, so common among all socie- 
ties in those days, was checked, the cere- 

* Encyclopaedia Britannica. 



monial was revised, and mutual relief and 
charity became the practical objects. By 
that time the organization had spread to 
most of the larger cities of England, its 
sphere of influence had been extended and 
its character improved. One of the objects 
of the society was to li uphold the dignity 
of the sovereign of the realm." * But it is 
also recorded that each member paid one 
penny a week for the poor and burial fund 
— undoubtedly the beginning of the pres- 
ent system of regular contributions for 
the relief of the poor and distressed, their 
widows and orphans. Details of the origin 
of the society of Odd Fellows will prob- 
ably ever remain obscure. But the inci- 
dents attending the extension of Freema- 
sonry in England, America, and on the 
continent, between its revival in 1717 and 
the year 1740, together with the similarity 
of emblems, and, to an extent, the mechan- 
ical arrangement of ceremonials, and the 
fact that Odd Fellowship could not have 
appeared prior to 1739, lead to the presump- 
tion that Freemasonry was the inspiration 
of the organization of the other. Indeed, 
there is a well-known tradition that a num- 
ber of London Freemasons, 1830-40, had a 
difference witli their Lodge, withdrew, and 
started another society — a lodge or club 
of Odd Fellows. Even as early as 1739 
Freemasonry had begun to attract wide at- 
tention throughout the United Kingdom 
and on the continent of Europe. Not 
only had it crossed to America, but the 
work of embroidering the original fabric of 
Freemasonry in France had excited wide 
attention on both sides of the channel. 
Alleged exposes w T ere published, as well as 
pamphlet attacks and defences, in the 
midst of which Odd Fellows' Lodges ap- 
peared. Shortly after 1845 they began to 
spring up with more or less frequency, 
practically independent one of the other ; 
but gradually a bond of unity grew up 

* History of the Order of Odd Fellows, Manches- 
ter Unity, 1866, London, James Spry, Provincial 
Corresponding Secretary, Plymouth District. 



248 



INDEPENDENT ORDER OF ODD FELLOWS 



between them, and they adopted a similar 
ritual, ultimately becoming confederated as 
the Ancient and Honorable Loyal Order 
of Odd Fellows. The custom followed 
by nearly all societies at that period, of 
meeting at taverns and indulging in con- 
viviality, soon became one of its character- 
istics. In 1788 the British poet Montgom- 
ery wrote an ode to Odd Fellowship, which 
would indicate that the Order had become 
known. It finally extended to Liverpool, 
where the Lodges united in a general system, 
first under the name of the Patriotic Or- 
der, and later the Union, or United Order 
of Odd Fellows, with London as the seat of 
government. 

The titles, the Ancient and Honorable 
Loyal Order, and the Patriotic Order, late 
in the eighteenth century, were due to the 
period being one tending to stimulate polit- 
ical partisanship. Suspicions of sedition re- 
sulted in laws prohibiting meetings of secret 
societies other than of the Freemasons, to 
which royalty itself was attached. History 
records that other organizations, notably 
the Orangemen (1795-1800), occasionally 
met in Masonic Lodge rooms immediately 
after the latter had closed, in order to 
avoid official surveillance; but whether Odd 
Fellows participated in this extension of 
what may be regarded as extreme fraternal 
courtesy, is not known. In any event, it 
is certain that Orangemen sometimes met in 
that manner, when they would not have 
been permitted to meet by the authorities, 
there being instances of a Masonic warrant 
conveniently left with them, from which 
fact, and the additional one that many 
Orangemen weremembers of MasonicLodges, 
are explained superficial resemblances of 
some Orange and Masonic ceremonies. It is 
not beyond probability that Lodges of Odd 
Fellows were occasionally treated similarly, 
particularly as Odd Fellows at times were 
also obliged to conceal their affiliation with 
that society. That the organization showed 
a desire to be well regarded is indicated by 
the titles Patriotic Order and Ancient and 



Honorable Loyal Order, both of which, at 
the close of the century, were merged into 
the Union, or United Order. During the 
Lord George Gordon riots in 1780 a number 
of Odd Fellows were arrested for denounc- 
ing the government, which may have re- 
sulted in the change of the name of the 
society. The possible debt of Odd Fellowship 
to Freemasonry, in that the former conferred 
a degree, in 1797, known as the "Koyal 
Arch of Titus, or degree of Fidelity," may 
be of little or no significance. By that time 
schism had begun to assert itself, even as it 
had, long before, among Freemasons. One 
of the first secessions to appear was the 
Ancient Independent Order, in 1805. It 
did not live long, but was revived in 1861, 
fifty-six years later, under the same name, 
but with the additional description, Kent 
Unity. Five years earlier, in 1800, the 
Free and Independent Order of Odd Fellows 
appeared as a separate organization, but did 
not prove long-lived. Many Lodges seceded 
from the Union or United Order prior to 
and after 1800, owing to the proscription of 
all secret societies, except the Freemasons, 
and also because the Order was so wedded 
to conviviality. In 1809 an effort was made 
by some Lodges to reform this tendency, but 
without success, and in 1812 there was 
another schism, seceding members taking 
the title, Nottingham Ancient Imperial 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows. This 
is still in existence. In 1813 there was a 
distinct revolt against the predominance of 
the convivial over the charitable objects of 
the society and the result was a large seces- 
sion from the United Order, under the title, 
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, 
Manchester Unity, which body grew rapidly, 
prospered greatly, and to-day includes by 
far the larger proportion of English Odd 
Fellows. While not the mother Order, it 
is the principal representative of the society 
in England in point of numbers, wealth, 
and influence. The first Lodge of the In- 
dependent Order, Manchester Unity, was at 
Ashton-under-Leeds, Victoria, No. 1, and 




-I74-0 
- 1750 

' *I760 
" 1770 

• trao 

IY9Q 

• teoo 

1805 



1330 



I&+0 
/843 
184-6 

1850 



1660 

\J870 

1880 
V1&90 



Note *- there are zo other societ/es of Odd 

FelLoIys (SCM/SMATJC)-ORlGl*AT/H6 FROM THE" 

manchester unity or the grand united order 
of England. 

CHART SHOWING THE LARGER AND MORE PROMINENT 

ENGLISH AND AMERICAN ORDERS OF ODD 

FELLOWS, ANCESTRY OF EACH 

AND DATES OF ORIGIN. 



250 



INDEPENDENT ORDER OF ODD FELLOWS 



seventy-four years after its foundation this 
Order reported $35,000,000 of sick, funeral, 
and other benefit funds. The English Or- 
ders of Odd Fellows mentioned, with other 
amoDg the more important branches into 
which they have been divided, are as fol- 
lows : 



Grand United Order (Parent Society) 

Ancient Independent Order, Kent Unity 
(1805) 

Nottingham Imperial Independent Order 
(1812) 

Independent Order, Manchester Unity 
(1813) 

Norfolk and Norwich Unity (1849) 

National Independent Order (1846) 

Ancient Noble Order, Bolton Unity 

Improved Independent Order 

British United Order 

Albion Order 

Derby Midland United Order (1856) 

Leeds United, Economical, Enrolled . . 

Ancient True, Kingston Unity, Aux- 
iliary, Staffordshire, West Bromwich, 
Wolverhampton, and Handsvvorth, 
and other Orders of Odd Fellowship. 



No. 

Members. 
1895. 

107,000 

3,000 

50,000 

740,000 

7,000 

64,000 

35,000 

15,000 

14.000 

8,000 

7,000 

31,000 



Grand Total 1,081,000 

In 1893 the Grand Secretary of the 
English Grand Lodge of the United Order 
of Odd Fellows wrote that after the schism 
of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, 
Manchester Unity, in 1813, the next most 
important English secession was that of the 
National Independent Order in 1846 (which 
was from the Manchester Unity), and after 
that (from the Grand United Order) the Not- 
tingham Order in 1812, already mentioned. 
Odd Fellows' societies in England, the out- 
growth of the United Order, present slight 
differences as to ritual and management, and 
the "All-Seeing Eye," the "three links," 
and the story of David and Jonathan are 
familiar to the members of all of them. 
Their objects and methods of contributing 
relief are also much the same. It is of 
interest to note that the separation of Eng- 
lish Odd Fellowship into so many inde- 
pendent secret societies with similar titles 
and ceremonies went even further, in many 
instances giving birth to like organiza- 
tions, but with entirely different names, 



among them the Foresters, Druids,* Shep- 
herds and Free Gardeners. If the member- 
ship of the American children of English 
Orders of Odd Fellows be added to that 
of the English societies, the grand total 
is found to be approximately as follows : 

Membership, 
1895. 

Various British Odd Fellows organiza- 
tions 1,081,000 

Independent Order of Odd Fellows, U.S.A., 
including Daughters of Rebekah, 
about 900,000 

Grand United Odd Fellows in America 
(negro), including Households of 
Ruth, about. . . 111,000 

Grand Total Membership, British and 

American Orders of Odd Fellows 2,192,000 

Contemplation of this extraordinary 
membership of the twenty-seven divisions 

* Ancient Order of Romans. — The English An- 
cient Order of Romans, while not a large society, 
deserves recognition, because it is the probable inspi- 
ration of several well-known American beneficiary 
societies. Unlike Freemasonry and Odd Fellowship, 
which drew freely on sacred history ; differing from 
the Druidic Order, which utilized the ceremonies 
and legends attaching to ancient Druidic priest- 
hood, and from the Foresters, who revived Robin 
Hood, Friar Tuck, Little John, and others who 
accompanied the gentle outlaw ; and quite distinct 
from the Ancient Order of Free Gardeners, or the 
Shepherds, which may be said to have gone back to 
the soil to plant the ceremonies with which they 
propose to teach morality, benevolence, and truth 
— the Ancient Order of Romans seized on some of 
the more brilliant incidents in profane history for 
its mythical prototypes, among them iEneas, " the 
noblest Roman of them all," whom the Ancient 
Roman of these days is taught to emulate. The 
originators of the Ancient Order of Romans have 
been described as comparatively humble though 
well read and earnest men — prominent among 
them John Cheesman, a schoolmaster, and Thomas 
Burras, afterwards the celebrated artist. The first 
or Grand Senate (corresponding to Grand Lodge) 
was opened at Leeds, England, August 26, 1833. 
The presiding officer was originally styled "Most 
Excellent Dictator," afterwards changed to " Most 
Excellent Consul." The government of the Order 
takes the form of an Annual Movable Congress 
or Committee, consisting of one member from 
each Senate, patterned after the Odd Fellows and 
Foresters, Grand, provincial, and subordinate Sen- 
ates. There is a sick and funeral benefit, but the 



INDEPENDENT ORDER OF ODD FELLOWS 



251 



into which the ancient, United Order of 
Odd Fellows is split excites regret. One 
cannot well help wishing the various 
branches might be reunited, if only for 

Order does not centralize its funds, leaving the 
Senates to disburse their own collections or assess- 
ments. Chief officers of Grand Senates are a Most 
Excellent Senator, a Most Excellent Vice-Senator, 
four Lictors, and two Centurions. The total mem- 
bership of the Society is not large, about 10,000, 
but its liberality to members in distress, and its 
business management, are said to be worthy of im- 
itation by many older and better known societies 
with similar aims. The Ancient Order of Romans 
seeks by its ritual to contrast the wretched condi- 
tion of Britain prior to the Christian era with the 
civilizing and peaceful nature of the Roman do- 
minion, and has therefore naturally remained in 
England. Xo record is known of an attempt to 
extend its membership across the Atlantic, but 
members of the English Order of Romans, or others 
who have seen its ritual, have apparently utilized 
its achievements in building up similar organiza- 
tions in the United States. 

Ancient Order of the Golden Fleece, Bradford 
Unity. — The pretenliousness of the title of this 
exclusively English secret beneficiary society is noi 
altogether unwarranted, although Jason, who led 
the Argonauts to Colchis in search of the Golden 
Fleece, which was guarded by tame bulls and the 
monstrous dragon, is not claimed as the founder. 
But the name of Jason is perpetuated in the society 
which styles the chief officer of a Lodge " Mosl No- 
ble Jason," and his assistant, "Deputy Jason." 
Tradition has it that there existed in Bradford, 
England, as long ago as 1780, some say earlier 
than that, an Ancient Grand United Order of the 
Golden Fleece, which was brought into England 
by some German workmen at the time of the intro- 
duction of woollen goods manufacture into the 
United Kingdom. This earlier Order of Golden 
Fleece was largely convivial in its objects, although 
charitable purposes were not overlooked. It is to 
be regretted that like so many other of the old work- 
ingmen's guilds, no records or early history have 
been preserved of this one. The ceremonial of the 
Ancient Grand United Order was very florid, and, 
like the Foresters, contained a second order within 
it, the Patriarchs, to which none was eligible ex- 
cept members of the Golden Fleece. Dissensions 
arose in 1833, and John Milner, " founder of the 
new Order." and ten others, seceded, and at Brad- 
ford opened Lodge No. 1 of present, or Ancient Or- 
der, Bradford Unity. This Order did not grow 
very rapidly, did not adopt tested and approved 



the satisfaction of counting the 2,200,000 
members in one grand organization. By 
a singular coincidence it was in 1813, 
the very year in which British Freemasonry 



jnethods of collecting and paying sick and funeral 
benefits, continued firmly opposed to registering 
under the friendly societies act, hedged its trustees 
of beneficiary funds with extraordinary checks 
against dishonesty, and provided for suspension of 
members who should obtain goods or property from 
any brother and not act according to contract. 
By 1851 another dissension arose, and twenty-one 
lodges with 900 members seceded and formed the 
Independent Order of the Golden Fleece, which for 
some years prior to 1880 it was thought could be 
induced to reunite with the Ancient Order. The 
government of the Order is lax, although it follows 
in general outline that of the Ancient Order of For- 
esters. The chief officer of the Order is the Grand 
Sire, which statement is also true of the Indepen- 
dent Order of Odd Fellows. The Ancient Order of 
the Golden Fleece, of England, is the skeleton of 
what such a society should be. It was started on 
a modern basis one year before the Ancient Order 
of Foresters seceded from the Royal Order of For- 
esters, yet the Foresters number 900,000 members, 
and the former perhaps 5,000. The Ancient Order 
of Golden Fleece is chiefly of interest here because 
of its contributions to rituals of similar societies in 
the United Stale-. 

Loyal Ancient Order of Shepherds. — Even more 
distinctly a child of Odd Fellowship than was the 
Ancient Order of Foresters, the Loyal Order of 
Shepherds must not be confounded with the An- 
cient Order of Shepherds,* which now constitutes 
the second degree of the Foresters of America, an 
order within an order. When dissensions broke 
out in the English Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows, Manchester Unity, in 1820, over the limit 
of the powers granted the Grand Master, an appli- 
cation for a fourth Odd Fellows' Lodge at Ashton, 
Lancashire, was refused by the Grand Lodge, which 
was not to be wondered at when the Grand Lodge 
was "fighting for its very existence."! The 
petitioners for a charter to open a Lodge of Odd 
Fellows, among them Thomas Scholfield, William 
Shaw, George Downs, and nine others, at a meeting 
in Friendship Inn, Ashton, the landlord of which, 
Mr. Thomas Scholfield, was an Odd Fellow, there- 
upon determined to form a new society. They ac- 
cordingly met on Christmas Day, 182'i, with the 



* See Ancient Order of Foresters, 
f A Short History of the Chief Friendly Societies, 
Leeds, England. 



252 



INDEPENDENT ORDER OF ODD FELLOWS 



consolidated after its long schism, that 
the first serious and permanent split 
took place in the ranks of English Odd 
Fellows. The line of descent of various 

intention of forming an ordinary sick benefit society, 
an open local organization, but changed their minds 
and agreed to make it a secret society.* This 
implied no small degree of courage, for as an open 
benefit society it would have secured the protection 
of the law and the approbation of the authorities ; 
as a secret society it could get neither. The second 
meeting was held February 3, 1827, when it was re- 
solved to call the organization the Society of An- 
cient Shepherds. Chroniclers of this prosperous 
English friendly society have referred to it as the 
Loyal Order of Shepherds, Ashton Unity, notwith- 
standing that within two months of its birth it 
christened itself the Society of Ancient Shepherds. 
It is singular, too, that its chroniclers do not refer 
to the apparently coincident existence of this with 
a more " ancient" Order of Shepherds, Royal Sanc- 
tuaries of which were originally " attached" to the 
Royal Order of Foresters, but which was absorbed 
by and became the second degree of the Ancient 
Order of Foresters at the disruption of the Royal 
Order in 1834. In any event there is no evidence 
that this "Loyal" or Ancient Order of Shepherds 
of 1826 had any connection with the Ancient Order 
of Forestic association. 

The name, Society of Ancient Shepherds, was 
suggested at the February meeting, 1827, by Phillip 
Buckley, the son-in-law of " a real shepherd." His 
interest in basing the ritual and insignia of the new 
society on shepherdry is illustrated by his collat- 
ing all the passages in the Bible having reference 
to shepherds and their employment. With these 
and his gift of expression, his pastoral references 
and "apt similitudes between Judean shepherds 
and the Order of Shepherds he sought to see 
established," he secured the adoption of the new 
name and basis of ceremonial. The first Lodge 
was characteristically named Loyal Abel, No. 1, 
"after the first shepherd." At the beginning, the 
chief officer of the Lodge was called the Deputy 
Master ; the initiating ceremony was called the 
" making ; " there was a Past Master, and a 
" charge " was delivered; all of which savors of 
certain Masonic titles and phrases. But the titles 
of the chief officials were changed to Chief Shep- 
herd and Deputy Chief Shepherd soon after, prior 
to the first annual meeting at Ashton, December 
23, 1827. From that time more attention was paid 

* A Short History of the Chief Friendly Societies, 
Leeds, England. 



English and American Orders of Odd 
Fellows from the parent English society 
is shown in an accompanying " family tree '■' 
of Odd Fellows' societies. 

to ceremonial, emblems, ritual, and decorations. 
The Inside and Outside Guardians carried shears in 
processions, and wore broad-brimmed hats. A harp 
was carried by the Minstrel, and ' ' lambskin aprons 
were worn by members." In the first six years the 
Order numbered 2,160 members, and by 1836 its 
total membership was 5,468. In 1840 the total was 
8,667 ; in 1847 it was 15,206 ; in 1856, 18,151 ; in 
1865, 30,844 ; and in 1880, 73,596 ; while to-day it is 
estimated at approximately 120,000 ; in which aggre- 
gate about 40,000 wives and widows are included. 
The jubilee meeting of the Order was celebrated at 
Ashton in 1876, when a fully equipped life-boat, 
" The Good Shepherd," paid for by voluntary sub- 
scriptions of members, was presented to the National 
Life-Saving Association. The Order suffered from 
the secession of 1,384 members at Wisbeach, but in 
1876 received 400 members of the Worcester Lodges 
of the Wolverhampton Unity of Odd Fellows, who 
brought with them a capital of £2,000. Prior to 
1860 the business of the Order was conducted by 
the three chief officers, who were always chosen 
from the Ashton district ; but they have since been 
chosen from the entire membership. In 1878 the 
annual meeting was held at Hawarden, when 
the Rt. Hon. W. E. Gladstone was initiated into the 
mysteries of Shepherdry, in what was, perhaps, the 
most unique initiation ceremony ever held by 
a sick benefit secret society. The lawn in front of 
the rectory at Hawarden was the " Lodge room," 
and the fringe of trees, and fleecy clouds which 
ranged across the sky, probably proved as pastoral 
as the most enthusiastic shepherd could wish. The 
laws of the Order are modelled after those of the 
Manchester Unity of English Odd Fellows. Grad- 
uated scales of contributions were enforced as early 
as 1875-77. From one point of view this organiza- 
tion is virtually another order of Odd Fellowship 
under a different name and with a ceremonial and 
ritual exclusively its own. It has spread to the 
United States and to Australia. (Compare with 
the Orders of the Star of Bethlehem, Shepherds of 
Bethlehem, and Shepherds of America.) 

National United Order of Free Gardeners. — The 
Order of Gardeners is one of the older English ben- 
eficiary secret societies. No authentic or satisfac- 
tory account of its origin has been published, 
although it is believed the different English orders 
of Garderners, like the orders of Odd Fellows, are 
the result of successive secessions from the parent 
body. Among the various branches are the Scotch 



The Ancient and Honorable, Loyal Odd Fellows, 
the 

I 

Patriotic Order of Odd Fellows 

and various independent Odd Fellows' Lodges, 

merged as 

The Union [later United, afterwards Grand United] Order op Odd Fellows. 

From the Union Order sprang : 



The Independent Order of Odd Fellows, 
Manchester Unity, England; 

and from that 



The Independent Order of Odd Fellows, 

United States of America ; 



■with it si 



Lodges. 



Daughters of Rebekak. 

Encampments. Daughters Militant 

Patriarchs Militant, also the 

Imperial Order of Muscovites. 



The Grand, United Order of Odd Fellows 
in America (Xegro). 

Lodges. Households of Ruth. 

Councils. 

Patriarchies. 



The following English Orders of Odd Fellowship : 



Ancient Independent Order, Kent Unity 



Nottingham Imperial Independent Order, 
National Independent Order. 



Ancient Noble Order of United Odd Fellows, Bolton Unity, 



Improved Independent Order, S. L. Unity, 

Derby Midland, United Order, 

The British Order, and 
I 
The Norfolk and Norwich, the Albion, the Kingston Unity, the Leeds United, Leicester Unity, 
the Economical, the Hkstone Unity, the Enrolled, the Ancient, True, The Staffordshire, The Auxiliary 
the West Bromwich, and the Handsworth Orders of Odd Fellows. 

CHART SHOWING THE LEADING SOCIETIES INTO WHICH ANCIENT ENGLISH ODD 

FELLOWSHIP IS DIVIDED. 



254 



INDEPENDENT ORDER OF ODD FELLOWS 



The Independent Order of Odd Fellows 
is the oldest and largest of the beneficiary 
secret societies in the United States in 
which members systematically contribute 
to a fund from which, to relieve sick and 
distressed members, their widows and or- 
phans. It was established in the United 
States, in 1819, by five Englishmen, at 
Baltimore, members of the English United 
Order, since which time its membership 
has increased to nearly 1,000,000. There 
are more than 11,000 Lodges of the Order, 
all but 400 being in the United States. It 
aims to inculcate truth, visits the sick, 
relieves the distressed, buries the dead, and 

Order of Free Gardeners, one of the oldest, dating 
back into the eighteenth century, and an Ancient 
Order in the North of England. In addition there 
are the British, the United, the Loyal, and the 
National United Orders of Free Gardeners, the 
last named of which is by far the largest. The five 
first named have probably no less than 25,000 mem- 
bers, while the National United Order has nearly 
three times as many. Gardeners' Lodges were 
originally called after the flowers, such as Moss 
Rose, Myrtle, Lily of the Valley, and in the early 
days of the Order the ceremonies are declared to 
have been of an extreme though impressive type. 
The initiatory ceremony and lectures were not 
printed, and, with the rules of the Order, were jeal- 
ously guarded. A considerable item of expense 
formerly incurred was for relief of members when 
" tramping in search of work." The latter, about 
the middle of the century, received two shillings 
per day and what was voluntarily given them. A 
refusal to cut down the ''tramping allowance," 
and to have the initiatory ceremonies and lectures 
printed, resulted in a secession from the Order of 
Ancient Free Gardeners, Lancashire Union, in 
1842. The newly formed society described itself 
by the same general title, Yorkshire Union, and 
as the Grand National Order merged with the 
parent body in 1871, then known as the United 
Order, the reunited bodies became known as the 
National United Order. The general government 
of the Gardeners suggests that of the English For- 
esters and Odd Fellows. The titles of officers of 
the Order, Grand Master and Deputy Grand Mas- 
ter, were drawn directly from the Freemasons and 
Odd Fellows. The Gardeners, so far as known, 
have not spread to the United States, which is 
remarkable in view of the vogue of beneficiary 
secret societies here. 



educates the orphan. Its cornerstone is 
fraternity, and the motto on its banner is 
'•Friendship, Love, and Truth." An Odd 
Fellow who is sick is entitled to and re- 
ceives specified financial relief, irrespective 
of actual need. An applicant for member- 
ship must profess a belief in the existence 
of a Supreme Being, and within the Lodge 
be is impressed, in addition to other lessons, 
with the fatherhood of God and the 
brotherhood of man. When Washington 
Lodge, No. 1, was organized at Baltimore 
in 1819, there were only three degrees con- 
ferred, the White, Blue, and Scarlet. In 
1820 two additional or intermediate de- 
grees, called the Covenant degree and the 
degree of Remembrance, prepared by Past 
Grand John P. Entwisle of that Lodge, were 
adopted and conferred in the Lodges as num- 
bers two and four, the original three being 
renumbered one, three, and five. These new 
or intermediate degrees were presented to 
the attention of the parent body, the Man- 
chester Unity, in 1826, and by it incorpo- 
rated in the English ritual. They remained 
there until 1843, the year the American 
Order became independent, after which 
the English Order discarded those two 
degrees. The five degrees were conferred 
in American Lodges from 1820 until 1880, 
when the Sovereign, American, Grand 
Lodge reduced or condensed them into the 
Initiatory (White) and the Pink, Blue, and 
Scarlet degrees. The presiding officer of 
the Lodge is called the Noble Grand, and 
former presiding officials are Past Grands, 
on whom is conferred the Grand Lodge 
degree. Past Grands, as well as Noble 
Grands, represent Lodges in Grand (State) 
Lodges, and the Grand Lodges in turn send 
presiding and past presiding officers, Grand 
Masters and Past Grand Masters who re- 
ceive the Royal Purple degree in the En- 
campment, as delegates to the Sovereign 
Grand Lodge, the presiding officer of which 
must have been a Grand Master and is 
called the Grand Sire. The Sovereign Grand 
Lodge of the Independent Order of Odd 



INDEPENDENT ORDER OF ODD FELLOWS 



255 



Fellows exjercises jurisdiction over the larg- 
est beneficiary secret society in the world. 

The principal emblems in the Initiatory 
degree are the All-Seeing Eye, the three 
links,* skull and cross bones and scythe; 
in the degree of Friendship, the bow and 
arrow, and the quiver and bundle of sticks; 
in the degree of Love, the axe, the heart 
and hand, the globe, ark and serpent ; and 
in the degree of Truth, the scales and 
sword, the Bible, hour-glass and the coffin. 
In the Encampment of Patriarchs, charity, 
religious toleration, and hospitality are 
emphasized, and its motto is "Faith, Hope, 
and Charity." The Jew, therefore, the 
Mohammedan and Christian are alike eli- 
gible to membership in the Encanq^ment as 
well as in the Lodge. 

The so-called superior degrees of Odd 
Fellowship are conferred in Encampments. 
To be qualified to receive them, an Odd 
Fellow must be in good standing in his 
Lodge, and apply for and be elected to 
membership in an Encampment. Encamp- 
ments are presided over by Worthy Patri- 
archs, and are under the immediate direc- 
tion of Grand (State) Encampments. The 
latter, though entirely separate from Grand 
(State) Lodges, are, like them, subordinate 
to the Sovereign Grand Lodge of the L'nited 
States of America. Subordinate Encamp- 
ments form a strong section of Odd Fellow- 
ship, having an enrolled membership of 
about 150,000, one-sixth of the entire Or- 
der. They contribute annually for relief 
perhaps one- tenth as much as the gross sum 
so expended by the Lodges. The Encamp- 
ment degrees, Patriarchal, Golden Rule, 
and Royal Purple, were invented or adopted 
from "'floating material," and originally 
conferred in Odd Fellows' Lodges as supple- 
mentary degrees or ceremonies, much the 
same as various Masonic degrees were orig- 
inally conferred. In 1821 a Golden Rule 
degree was introduced into the Lodge rit- 
ual, and frequently referred to in Grand 

* The three interlaced circles were an ancient 
emblem of the Trinity. 



Lodge minutes as "the fourth degree." 
In 1825 the Royal Purple degree was pro- 
mulgated by the Grand Lodge, and became 
a part of the ritual in 1826, both being of 
American origin. In the same year the 
Patriarchal degree was received from the 
English Independent Order, which "com- 
pleted the superior degrees of the Order." 
Though last to be adopted, the Patriarchal 
degree was placed first in the work of the 
Encampment. Xot much of any of these 
three degrees, as adopted in 1821-26, re- 
mains to-day, except the names, owing to 
revisions, alterations, and additions in 1835, 
1845, and 1880. When these degrees had 
been adopted in 1825-26, they were conferred 
only on Past Grands and at sessions of Grand 
Lodges. The word Encampment was then 
unknown. The first Encampment appeared 
at Baltimore, in 1827, formed to confer the 
" superior degrees" on brothers who were 
not members of a Grand Lodge. It was, 
therefore, a distinct innovation; for in Eng- 
land, even to this day, the only degrees 
known to the Order are conferred in Lodges. 
It was named and chartered Encampment 
Lodge, No. 1, but in 1829 was rechartered 
as an Encampment of Patriarchs, with 
power to establish Encampments. Patriar- 
chal Odd Fellowship spread rapidly into 
Pennsylvania and New York, and in 1831 
the possession of the Royal Purple degree was 
made a necessary qualification to become 
Grand Representative. After the revision 
of the ritual, in 1845, the Encampment 
branch became more popular, and Grand 
Encampments multiplied so fast that jeal- 
ousy was shown at the interest taken in the 
Patriarchal degrees. An effort was made 
to merge the Encampment degrees in the 
Lodge work, which extended over a number 
of years, but it was successfully resisted in 
the Grand Lodge, now Sovereign Grand 
Lodge, of the United States, and Patri- 
archal Odd Fellowship remains to this day 
where it began, a goal toward which mem- 
bers of Lodges travel or which they hope to 
attain. A little less than thirty years ago 



256 



INDEPENDENT ORDER OF ODD FELLOWS 



the desire spread for a patriarchal uniform, 
admittedly influenced by Masonic Knight 
Templar displays, and after an extended 
propaganda in 1874 the movement suc- 
ceeded, and in 1882 the Sovereign Grand 
Lodge adopted a degree of Uniformed Pa- 
triarchs. The Patriarchs Militant, as the 
reorganized Uniformed Rank of Patriarchs 
is called, furnished the degree which super- 
sedes the Uniformed Camp degree of the 
Uniformed Patriarchs. This is the existing 
military branch of the Order, and is re- 
cruited from among the Patriarchs. Can- 
tons, as the separate bodies of Patriarchs 
Militant are described, are organized into 
regiments, brigades, and divisions. Mem- 
bers of Cantons are known as Chevaliers 
and the officers of the organization have dis- 
tinctively military titles. The uniform, 
drill, and tactics are modelled somewhat as 
are those of the Masonic Knights Templars. 
This new military branch of the Order was 
first proposed in 1870. It took shape in 
1885, and in 1887 was reorganized to confer 
three degrees: (1) The Grand Decoration 
of Chivalry, to be conferred on Chevaliers, 
selected by the Commander; (2) the Deco- 
ration of Chivalry, to be conferred on Chev- 
aliers selected by Cantons and by Depart- 
ment Commanders; and (3) the Decoration 
of Chivalry, to be conferred on women 
members of the degree of Rebekah, as pro- 
vided for. On September 30, 1885, there was 
only one Canton of Patriarchs Militant, with 
a total membership of thirty; but two years 
later there were reported 462 Cantons and 
15,259 Chevaliers. In preceding years the 
growth was less rapid, but of late there is a 
revival of interest in this the uniformed 
branch of Encampments. On September 1, 
1894, there were reported 171 Cantons of 
Patriarchs Militant in fourteen States and 
one Territory, and one each in British Co- 
lumbia and Manitoba, with a total member- 
ship of 7,310, having $92,669 worth of 
property, and $7,425 cash on hand. In Sep- 
tember, 1895, the Sovereign Grand Lodge 
reported that "the usual prosperity" ex- 



isted among the Cantons, and that many 
dormant Cantons had been revived and new 
ones organized. In 1896 no fewer than 
25,000 Odd Fellows were enrolled in the 
army of Patriarchs Militant. 

American as well as English Odd Fel- 
lows regard with veneration Thomas Wil- 
dey, founder, or chief organizer, of the 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, United 
States of America. The early portion of 
the century naturally witnessed the emigra- 
tion of English Odd Fellows, members of the 
United as well as the Independent Orders, 
to the new but democratic empire of possi- 
bilities on this side of the Atlantic. Among 
them, in 1817, at the age of thirty-five, 
came Thomas Wildey. He was born in Lon- 
don, January 15, 1782, where he attended a 
parish school until he was fourteen years 
old, when he learned the trade and became 
skilled as a blacksmith. A member of Odd 
Fellows Lodge, No. 17, at London, he took a 
great interest in the Order, being the leader 
in establishing a new Lodge in the suburbs 
of the city. Over that Lodge he presided 
three terms. Shortly after his arrival in 
Baltimore, he, with John Welch, a brother 
Odd Fellow, published a call for a meeting 
of such members of the Order as the notice 
might reach. On April 13, 1819, Thomas 
Wildey, John Welch, John Duncan, John 
Cheatham, and Richard Rushworth met in 
response to the call. They or most of them 
were members of the United Order, by 
whose laws any five members "by ancient 
usage " could organize and constitute a legal 
Lodge. So, at the city of Baltimore, April 
26, 1819, they organized and constituted 
such a Lodge. It was opened by Thomas 
Wildey, he taking the obligation "in the 
presence of the other four/' after which 
"he administered the obligation to them." 
The title, Independent Order of Odd Fel- 
lows, copied from the English Order of that 
name, was given to American Odd Fellow- 
ship, probably because Washington Lodge, 
No. 1, Baltimore, was chartered by Duke of 
York Lodge, Preston, England, one of the 



INDEPENDENT ORDER OF ODD FELLOWS 



257 



subordinate Lodges of the English Inde- 
pendent Order of Odd Fellows, Manchester 
Unity. This indicates that some of the 
founders, though from English Lodges be- 
longing to the United Order, sympathized 
with the schism of 1813. In 1802 a self- 
constituted Lodge of English Odd Fellows 
(United Order) appeared at Baltimore and 
another at New York in 1806, but they 
did not live long. Others sprang into life 
similarly, prior to and after the War of 
1812, but it remained for Thomas Wildey 
and four brethren to establish the society. 
Several Lodges were chartered in the LTnited 
States by both the United Order and by the 
Manchester Unity between 1820 and 1825, 
and as late as 1841-42 there were several 
Lodges in Pennsylvania holding warrants 
from the English United Order. One ac- 
count of the society in the United States 
says there were sixteen Lodges with Man- 
chester Unity charters in Boston as late as 
1880, with a total membership of 976; seven 
in Providence, with 438 members; and one 
in New York city, with sixty-one members; 
a total of twenty-four English Lodges, with 
1,475 members in these cities. At that 
date there were forty-one Manchester Unity 
Lodges in the Dominion of Canada, the total 
membership of which was 1,908. It is not 
unlikely that there are still a few Lodges of 
Odd Fellows in this country with Manchester 
Unity charters. 

In 1821 the Grand Committee of the 
Manchester Unity confirmed the charter 
granted an American Lodge by an English 
Lodge, and constituted the '"'Grand Lodge 
of Maryland and the United States," with 
power to grant charters. The subordinate 
Lodge receiving this dual charter surren- 
dered the Grand Lodge charter to its Past 
Grands, who thereupon constituted the 
Grand Lodge of Maryland and the United 
States. Thomas Wildey was the first Grand 
Master of this Grand Lodge, which held 
allegiance to the Manchester Unity. First 
among subordinate Lodges chartered were 
Washington, No. 1, and Franklin, No. 2. 
17 



There was but little progress for several 
years, which is not surprising when one re- 
calls the difficulties attending travel and in- 
tercommunication in the third decade of the 
century. It is striking testimony to the 
energy and perseverance of Thomas Wildey 
that he was able to keep alive the fires of 
enthusiasm and fraternity, not only within 
himself, but among his brethren, and so en- 
kindle them in the hearts of those with 
whom he came in contact, that even after a 
few years without making much progress 
he undertook the task of building up a 
great brotherhood, a conception he did not 
appear to have entertained at first. 

Grand Lodges were formed in Pennsyl- 
vania, New York, and Massachusetts within 
four years after the formation of the Grand 
Lodge of Maryland and the United States, 
and on January 15, 1825, the first Grand 
Lodge of Odd Fellows of the United States 
was organized and a communication was held 
February 22, that year. At that time there 
were only nine subordinate Lodges and 500 
members, all told. Thomas Wildey was in- 
stalled Grand Sire on March 30, 1825, anlf in 
the following year he visited the mother 
country, where " he was joyfully received by 
Odd Fellows as the founder of the Order in 
America." It is seldom allotted to man to 
live to see so large a share of the fruits of his 
labor as was granted the founder of American 
Odd Fellowship. At the date of his death, 
October 19, 1861, forty-two years after the 
organization of Washington Lodge, No. 1, 
there were forty-two Grand jurisdictions 
and 200,000 members of the Order. Fully 
500,000 candidates had been initiated dur- 
ing the forty-two years, $20,000,000 weekly 
dues had been paid, and nearly $9,000,000 
in all expended for the relief of the sick, 
burial of the dead, and education of orphans. 

The growth of the society was delayed be- 
tween 1827 and 1835 by the antagonism ex- 
cited toward all. secret societies consequent 
on the anti-Masonic agitation. There was, 
however, some gain, and the first Odd 
Fellows Hall erected and dedicated to the 



258 



INDEPENDENT ORDER OF ODD FELLOWS 



exclusive use of the Order was in Baltimore 
in 1831. During the years 1820-30 the or- 
ganization was practically only a beneficial 
society, numbering a few Lodges at larger 
Eastern cities. Soon after (at the height 
of the anti-Masonic agitation) "educated 
men from every honorable profession and 
business " sought admission, and are said to 
have eliminated what remained of the con- 
vivial character of meetings, and to have 
strengthened the moral and the beneficial 
features. A comparison of official publica- 
tions concerning Odd Fellowship and Free- 
masonry on this point is not without sig- 
nificance. Systematic contributions for the 
relief of the distressed, burial of the dead, 
and education of orphans amounted to only 
$5,000 in the year 1838, from which it may 
be inferred that the total membership twenty 
years after the establishment of Washington 
Lodge, ~No. 1, was small. Five years later, 
in 1843, the total membership was only 
30,000. But in the single year 1879, 
$1,714,805 were expended for relief, and in 
1893 the total appropriated was $3,313,000, 
nearly double the amount in 1879. 

On September 22, 1842, the Grand Lodge 
of the United States adopted a resolution 
prohibiting all intercourse between the Inde- 
pendent Order of Odd Fellows and the In- 
dependent Order, Manchester Unity, pro- 
claiming the sole authority the Grand Lodge 
of the United States. Since 1843 the 
American Order has been actually as well 
as nominally independent. This secession 
was a blow to the English Society, for its 
American branch promised, as has proved 
the case, to outrun the parent organization 
in numbers, wealth, and influence. Causes 
which led to complete separation have been 
variously stated. One version is that the 
Manchester Unity "abandoned the ancient 
work and landmarks, . . . violated its 
principles," and invaded "chartered 
rights," which points to the probability of 
the American Order having grievances 
which the English body refused to, or at 
least did not, redress. Another version is 



that the separation was due to a desire on 
the part of American Odd Fellows to be 
relieved from the obligation of granting 
pecuniary assistance to visiting English Odd 
Fellows, in addition to a reassertion of the 
" spirit of secession which showed itself in 
England in 1813," and which descended to 
the oif spring of the schismatic Manchester 
Unity rightfully, as an inheritance. Early 
in the fourth decade Odd Fellowship began 
to make rapid progress, increasing in mem- 
bership and influence steadily until checked 
by the Civil War. Since 1865 its record 
has been remarkable. It has thirty-one 
times the membership to-day it had in 1843, 
and five times what it had in 1860. Very 
soon after the close of the Civil War, in 
1865, the northern and southern divisions 
of the Order met at Baltimore, where the 
Society was founded forty-six years before, 
and reunited under the Grand Lodge of the 
United States. In 1879 the title of the 
latter body was altered to that b'f the Sover- 
eign Grand Lodge, Independent Order of 
Odd Fellows, United States of America. 

American Odd Fellowship was taken to 
the Dominion of Canada as early as 1843, 
to the Sandwich Islands in 1846, and to 
Australia in 1868. A few Lodges were 
established in England, but did not live 
long. There appears to have been no other 
reason why it has not successfully invaded 
the United Kingdom, except that the Eng- 
lish Orders are preferred there. Lodges 
of the American Order were established in 
Germany in 1870, in Peru and Belgium in 
1872, Chili in 1874, Denmark in 1878, Mex- 
ico in 1882, Cuba in 1883, Japan in 1891, 
France in 1892, and in Newfoundland, Hol- 
land, and Italy in 1894. American Odd 
Fellowship in foreign lands has, on the 
whole, progressed satisfactorily. In Aus- 
tralasia, except Victoria, there has been en- 
couraging progress, but in Chili it has not 
met expectations, owing to lack of interest. 
Cuba reported an increasing membership 
until 1895, when the insurrection broke out. 
Lodges in Denmark have been doing well, 



INDEPENDENT ORDER OF ODD FELLOWS 



259 



but in France the spread of atheistic ideas 
has checked the previous rate of gain. In 
Germany, however, the Order has grown 
and prospered. Arrangements were made 
through a number of Freemasons to or- 
ganize a Grand Lodge of the Independent 
Order of Odd Fellows for Italy at Xaples, 
they "having considered not' only greatly 
useful the propagation of said Order in this 
nation, but also of great usefulness to the 
Masonic Order itself."* But the Italian 
venture did not succeed. In Japan there 
have been reverses, owing to the acts of 
unworthy members. Mexico has held its 
own, although interest is lacking. Hol- 
land, with only a few Lodges and little in- 
crease, reports the outlook encouraging. In 
Peru growth has been slow and " non-pay- 
ment of dues " conspicuous. The Hawaiian 
Islands report lack of material, but the 
outlook since annexation is brighter. The 
Order in Sweden, as in Germany, has con- 
tinued "in a highly prosperous condition," 
and the brethren are enthusiastic and un- 
tiring in their efforts. In Switzerland, while 
the membership is small, considerable pro- 
gress has been made. 

In 1895 the Order owned 3,830 halls 
or buildings used for Lodge meetings and 
other purposes, which, with the land, cost 
••512.857,468 and were valued at $16,521,- 
724. In addition it owned twenty-four 
homes, asylums, and orphanages, with 3,882 
acres of land valued at $1,000,000. Homes 
are situated in Xew York (4), Pennsylvania 
(4), Ohio (2), Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, 
Illinois, Kansas, Massachusetts, Minne- 
sota, Xew Hampshire, Missouri, Nebraska, 
North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Ver- 
mont, California, and Wisconsin. An Odd 
Fellows Home has also been established 
at Greiz, Germany, the first of the kind on 
the continent of Europe. There were, in 
1895, 49 papers and periodicals published 
in half a dozen languages, in the interest of 
this branch of Odd Fellowship: 43 in the 

* Report, Sovereign Grand Lodge, 1895. 



United States, 2 in Canada, 1 in Australia, 
and 1 each in Germany, Denmark, and Swit- 
zerland. There were also no fewer than 
10 mutual aid societies in the Ignited States, 
and one in the Dominion of Canada, to which 
Odd Fellows only were eligible, as well as 
several mutual accident associations with 
similar requirements as to membership. 

REVENUES RECEIVED AND RELIEF AFFORDED. 

1897. 



United States. 

Subord. Lodges.. 
" Encamp- 
ments 

Rebekah Lodges. . 



Revenues. Relief Paid. 
§7,547,515 $2,980,378 



G50.566 
312.922 



289.418 
43,172 



Totals $8,511,004 $3,312,970 



Revenues. Relief Paid. 
$7,810,175 $3,047,285 



603.176 
432.907 



51,378 



$8,846,258 $3,364,628 



The systematic annual contributions of 
funds for the relief of the sick and dis- 
tressed, the burial of the dead, and the 
education of the orphan has increased, 
therefore, from 85,000 in 1838 to 83,364,628 
in 1897, or more than 660 times during 
sixty years, while the membership has in- 
creased forty times. 

STATISTICS OF THE CONDITION OF THE ORDER. 

For'n & Domes- Foreign, Domestic, 
tie, 1894. 1894. 1894. 



, Den. V 
No. . . \ 



January, 

Independ't Grand Lodges 
(Germ'y, Anstrali 
and Switzerland) 
Subord. Grand Encamp 

ments, No 

Subord. Encamp'a, X<>.. 

Subord. Lodges, No 

M'b'sh'p, in Lodges 

'* Sub. Enc... 

Rebekah Lodges, No 

M'bVp, men... 
" " women 



54 

2,581 

10,644 

806,013 

137.222 

3,300 

93,910 | 

108,732 ) 



*55 



4 50 

24 2,337 

349 10,295 

25,281 780,192 

1,131 136,090 

8 3,292 

200 i .™*,810 



tl08,632 



* Subordinate, not independent. t Approximately. 



STATISTICS OF THE CONDITION OF THE ORDER. 

Domestic. 

January 1. 1895. 18961 189a! 
Indep. G'd Lodges, (.Germany, Au- 
stralia, Den. & Switzerland) No. . . *56 *55 

Subord. G'd Encampments, No 50 54 51 

Subord. Encampments. No 2,610 2,651 2,633 

Subord. Lodges, No 10,592 11,222 11,229 

Membership, Xodses 790,795 825.629 814,776 

Sub. Encampments.... 134,330 133.857 129,917 

Rebekah Lodges, No 3,627 4,117 4,796 

Membership, men I 09 _ 1ftq \ 110,242 I 9Q7 fiQ1 

" women \ ^ oJ89 I 143,251 f ^ J7 ' b91 

* Subordinate, not independent, 

The total number of initiations into subor- 
dinate Lodges from 1830 to 1895 was 2,012,- 
840, and no more striking testimony to the 
work of the institution can be furnished 
than that within those sixty-five years 



260 



INDEPENDENT ORDER OF ODD FELLOWS 



1,902,562 members received material assist- 
ance, including 216,178 widows and other 
members of families of members. Eevenues 
for sixty-five years amounted to $176,786,- 
202, of which $67,828,570 were paid to the 
sick and distressed. Thus the work of five 
humble mechanics, who organized Washing- 
ton Lodge, No. 1, at Baltimore, in 1819, has 
spread until the one Lodge has become more 
than 11,000; five members have increased to 
nearly 800,000; and the material aid af- 
forded has grown to $3,300,000 annually, 
while gross annual revenues are $8,500,000. 
Meetings of Odd Fellows, originally made 
up largely of those in the humbler walks of 
life, now include not. only laborers and me- 
chanics, but merchants, clergymen, phy- 
sicians, lawyers, and statesmen. 

An old member of the Sovereign Grand 
Lodge writes that the list of distinguished 
citizens who are or have been Odd Fellows is a 
very long one, some of the best known being 
ex-Presidents Grant, Hayes, Garfield, and 
Harrison; ex-Vice-President Schuyler Col- 
fax ; Austin Jones, who was the second Presi- 
dent of the Eepublic of Texas; Secretary of 
State John- Sherman; and the late Senator 
Oliver P. Morton of Indiana. The work of 
the Order is carried on in fourteen countries, 
in eight of the leading languages of the world, 
as far east as Germany and west to Japan 
and Australia. 

Late in the first half of the century efforts 
were made by I. D. Williamson, of the Grand 
Lodge, " to institute a ladies' degree," but 
according to his own statement, "it was 
unsuccessful." At the Grand Lodge of the 
United States, in 1850, the late Schuyler Col- 
fax, afterward Vice-President of the United 
States, was appointed chairman of a com- 
mittee to prepare a degree to be conferred 
on the wives of Odd Fellows. He received 
valuable suggestions from a Past Grand in 
Maryland, some of which he adopted in a 
modified form, he himself writing the lec- 
tures and preparing the ritual in 1851, in 
which year the degree was adopted. This 
innovation had been strongly urged on the 



favorable notice of the Grand Lodge for sev- 
eral years, and when the minority report 
was made, embodying the completed degree, 
it was adopted, 47 to 37, " in spite of power- 
ful opposition" by a small majority of a 
committee. A well-known writer on Odd 
Fellowship regards the degree of Eebekah 
as " an epitome of Odd Fellowship in all its 
parts," and adds that "a woman who re- 
ceives it (wives, sisters, widows, and daugh- 
ters of Odd Fellows and Odd Fellows only 
were then eligible) and appreciates it prop- 
erly, comprehends the Institution," knows 
what Odd Fellowship is. The degree was 
named Eebekah because the practical work- 
ings of the Order suggest so forcibly the ten- 
der and considerate action of the Biblical 
character of that name when she first looked 
upon Eleazer at the well of Nahor. Of the 
ritual and impressiveness of the ceremonial 
of the degree, it has been declared that no 
degree of Odd Fellowship, "not even the 
Eoyal Purple, excels this excellent produc- 
tion." It remains to this day substantially 
unchanged since its adoption. The principal 
emblems are the beehive, moon, and seven 
stars, and the dove. The popularity of the 
degree among the immediate relatives of Odd 
Fellows has been and continues marked. 
Eebekah Lodges in the United States re- 
ported a total membership, January 1, 1898, 
of 297,691. The degree was originally con- 
ferred in Odd Fellows Lodges on wives and 
daughters of such Odd Fellows as had at- 
tained the Scarlet or highest Lodge degree. 
In 1869 separate Eebekah Lodges were in- 
stituted. The requirements for eligibility to 
the degree have been changed several times, 
and in 1894 "all single white women, 
of good moral character, over eighteen 
years of age," were declared eligible, in ad- 
dition to wives, widows, and daughters of 
Odd Fellows. In 1896 the Sovereign Grand 
Lodge adopted what it described as a uni- 
versal sign of recognition between Odd Fel- 
lows and Daughters of Eebekah. Eebekah 
Lodges are presumed to supplement the 
work of Odd Fellowship in relieving the 



INDEPENDENT ORDER OF ODD FELLOWS 



261 



sick and distressed and caring for the widow 
and orphan. An extract from the address 
of the Grand Sire before the Sovereign 
Grand Lodge of the Independent Order of 
Odd Fellows, in 1895, states that the organ- 
ization of Coteries of Daughters Militant 
had been prohibited, yet such Coteries still 
existed and new ones were being organized 
with ritual, secret work, constitution and 
by-laws. The Imperial Order of Musco- 
vites bears practically the same relation to 
Odd Fellowship that the Ancient Arabic 
Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine does 
to the Masonic Fraternity. Odd Fellows 
alone are eligible to become Muscovites. 
The society was founded at Cincinnati a 
few years ago. Its sessions are secret, and 
its objects are largely social and recreative. 
The chief omaer is styled Supreme Czar, 
and the various branches or bodies are called 
Kremlins. The Patriarchical Circle was 
formed in 1881. It existed almost solely 
in Wisconsin, and its members were drawn 
exclusively from the Independent Order 
of Odd Fellows. It sought to estab- 
lish and propagate, independently, " the 
new degrees for Uniformed Patriarchs.'* 
Despite strenuous opposition from the Sov- 
ereign Grand Lodge, this order within an 
order continued to live and even to grow 
for four or five years, when it was officially 
reported to have been killed by the action 
of the Sovereign Grand Lodge, which threat- 
ened to expel every Odd Fellow who con- 
tinued his membership in it. As a matter 
of fact it did not die, but continued an in- 
dependent existence. At the annual con- 
vention of its Supreme Council, held in 
Chi6ago in 1897, it discussed a plan for re- 
uniting with the parent body, the Indepen- 
dent Order of Odd Fellows. 

Past Grand Sire John H. White, in 
" Odd Fellowship, its History and Manual," 
M. W. Hazen, New York, 1887, says: 

It is sometimes said that Odd Fellowship is the 
offspring of Masonry, but this is in no sense true, 
and the writer of this knows whereof he speaks. 
While occasionally a similarity of expression can be 



traced in a few of the unimportant parts of the 
ceremonials, in the fundamentals they are essentially 
different. Masonry is a noble institution, but is 
as unlike Odd Fellowship as two institutions or- 
ganized by human beings can well be. The one 
is theoretical, the other practical ; the one is ancient, 
Ihe other modern ; the government of one is auto- 
cratic, the other democratic ; the one deals out 
charity and assists its needy members, but only to 
a limited extent and only as a charity ; the other 
assists its members, not only from charity, but 
because it is their due, and their assistance is af- 
forded in large measure. American Odd Fellow- 
ship is composed of the middle and industrial 
classes almost exclusively ; Masonry of all grades 
of society, from the titled and wealthy of this and 
foreign lands, to the humblest laborer in our midst. 
In England, when Odd Fellowship arose, we are 
told that Masonry was composed almost exclusively 
of the titled and the proud, and not of the mechanics 
and working men who organized the more modern 
institution. Masonry has been long in achieving 
its present standing. Odd Fellowship in less than 
two centuries has outstripped it in numbers and 
importance, and is to-day the grandest fraternal 
organization of the world. The two great Orders of 
Odd Fellows, the Manchester Unity and the Ameri- 
can Order, from actual returns, number 1,164,000 
adult males, scattered throughout the habitable 
globe. Masonry, according to partial returns and 
from estimates from all jurisdictions, numbers 
among its devotees throughout the world, 1,082,992 
persons, or 81,898 less (1895) than the two branches 
of Odd Fellows above mentioned. How nearly cor- 
rect these estimates may be is, of course, much a 
matter of speculation, as there are no returns ac- 
cessible; for, unlike Odd Fellowship, it has no grand 
central head to which its various Grand Bodies hold 
allegiance and to which they send annual reports. 

The foregoing is true in some respects 
and in others not. There is, indeed, an 
occasional similarity of expression in the 
rituals of Freemasonry and Odd Fellowship. 
Each and both indeed, are noble institutions. 
But Freemasonry is not merely theoretical; 
it is intensely practical. It dispenses char- 
ity and relief, or both, not only when needed 
and as agreed upon beforehand, as is the 
case in various orders, but to an extent 
based upon the requirements of each par- 
ticular case. Odd Fellowship is, indeed, 
practical; so much so that its charity is 
systematized, is based on a business arrange- 



262 



INDEPENDENT ORDER OF RED MEN 



nient, a practical contract to pay such and 
such sums under such and such conditions. 
With this understanding as to Odd Fellow- 
ship, Freemasonry is, perhaps, theoretical. 
But it is hardly fair to declare that the older 
society is autocratic and the younger demo- 
cratic, unless qualified by the explanation 
that Freemasonry is governed absolutely, by 
the consent of the governed. But it is ac- 
curate to say that the one deals out charity 
to only a limited extent, and then only as a 
charity, while the other assists needy mem- 
bers because it is their clue. The bene- 
ficiaries of Freemasonry receive aid as they 
may require it, not because it is their due, 
but because they are- brethren or relatives of 
brethren. Xo pretense is made of assisting 
those who do not need assistance. It is also 
unfair to both societies to compare them as 
to numerical strength. Candidates for ad- 
mission into the Fraternity of Free and Ac- 
cepted Masons must apply of their own free 
will and accord. No one is solicited to join, 
and in this respect the society is unique. 
It should be added that the membership of 
the various branches of Odd Fellowship ex- 
ists almost wholly in the United States, the 
Dominion of Canada, Australia, and in the 
United Kingdom— au extremely small pro- 
portion being in Germany, the Scandinavian 
peninsula, France, Italy, Mexico, and in 
a few countries in South America. Less 
than three per cent, of the Independent 
Order of Odd Fellows of 'the United States 
of America are members of foreign Lodges. 
The Masonic fraternity, which has an or- 
ganized existence in almost every civilized 
land, is open only to those who knock, and 
it gives freely to needy members without 
specific agreement. The younger society, 
with modern ideas as to increasing mem- 
bership, and with specific agreements as to 
reciprocity of material relief, has grown to 
unexampled proportions, and has an envi- 
able record of sums paid for charitable and 
beneficial purposes. 

Independent Order of Red Men. — 
An offshoot from the Improved Order of 



Red Men in 1850, composed of some of the 
Tribes, or Stamms, working in the German 
language. It still exists, and at one time 
numbered 12,000 members, but gives no 
sign of vigorous growth. The schism was 
the result of the refusal of Metamora Tribe 
of Baltimore in 1850 to "pay a benefit," 
even after the Great Council of Maryland 
and the Grand Council of the United 
States had decided it was legal and pro- 
per to do so. (See Improved Order of 
Eed Men.) 

Irish National Order of Foresters. — 
Organized in 1876 at Dublin, Ireland, as a 
beneficiary fraternal order. Irishmen or men 
of Irish descent alone are eligible to mem- 
bership. It is believed to be one of the nu- 
merous modern Forestic societies which find 
their model in the English Ancient Order 
of Foresters. The Irish Xational Order 
soon spread throughout the United King- 
dom, to Canada, Australia, and the United 
States, and has about 22,000 members at- 
tached to its 1,700 Courts. The latter are 
subordinate to the Executive Council at 
Dublin. In America the District Council at 
New York city is the governing body. There 
is an honorary and a beneficiary mem- 
bership. The latter pays $100 to the family 
of a deceased member and $75 to a member 
at the death of his wife. Each Court or 
branch pays its own benefits, and as this is 
done by means of dues, entertainments, etc., 
the Order may be classed as one of the many 
varieties of English friendly secret societies. 

Junior Foresters of America. — An 
outgrowth of the English Juvenile Forest- 
ers, attached to the Foresters of America. 
(See the latter.) 

Knights of Cyprus. — See Knights of 
St. John of Jerusalem, Ehodes, Malta, etc. 

Knights of Golden Links of the 
World. — A Xashville mutual sick and fu- 
neral benefit order founded in 1886, but 
not known there now. 

Knights of Liberty. — See International 
Order of Twelve, of Knights and Daughters 
of Tabor. 



KNIGHTS OF PYTHIAS 



263 



Knights of Pythias. — Among American 
charitable and benevolent secret societies 
not more than one outranks the Knights 
of Pythias in numbers and influence for 
good. That the Odd Fellows should stand 
first, with a membership of nearly 900,000, 
is not strange when it is recalled that the 
latter order in this country is eighty years 
old. The Knights of Pythias, however, 
tells a story of unexampled enthusiasm and 
prosperity, with 450,000 members after 
thirty-one years of existence. This society 
is the outgrowth of the period marking the 
close of the Civil War. It was born at the 
capital of the nation, and the hold it took 
on the interest of its members and the re- 
spect of the public easily makes good the 
claim of its founders that it forms an im- 
portant link in the chain of larger secret 
fraternities. Like the Independent Order 
of Odd Fellows, it seeks to systematically 
relieve the sick and distressed, to bury the 
dead, care for the widow and orphan; and 
in one section, the Endowment Rank, to 
which admission is optional, it insures the 
lives of those belonging to it on the mutual 
assessment plan. An idea of the growth of 
interest in this and kindred bodies may 
be derived by recalling that while Odd Fel- 
lowship increased in membership about 700,- 
000 from 1804 to 1895, the Knights of 
Pythias, with 13 members in 1864, now 
numbers about 450,000. 

It was on February 15, 1864, at Washing- 
ton, D. C, that Justus H. Eathbone, a 
Freemason, with D. L. Burnett, W. II. 
Burnett, his brother, and Robert II. Cham- 
pion, a Freemason, government department 
clerks; E. S. Kimball, M.D., and Messrs. 
Roberts and Driver, all accomplished musi- 
cians, and members of the "Arion Glee 
Club," took preliminary steps looking to the 
formation of a secret society. Mr. Rathbone 
was the moving spirit, as shown by the fact 
that he then and there read a proposed rit- 
ual of an order to be called the Knights of 
Pythias, to keep the secrets of and perform 
the duties enjoined by which he obligated 



himself and the others. The meeting ad- 
journed after the appointment of a commit- 
tee to secure additional members. It is re- 
lated that the ritual read by Mr. Rathbone 
was originally composed and written by him 
while living at Eagle Harbor, Keewenaw 
Count} T , Lake Superior, Mich., in the win- 
ter of 1860-61. 

Four days later, February 19th, a meet- 
ing was held at Temperance Hall, Washing- 
ton, since acquired by the Order, at which 
it was formally decided to organize a secret 
society with friendship, benevolence, and 
charity for its ultimate objects. An obliga- 
tion of secrecy was imposed, the Order was 
styled the Knights of Pythias, and the ritual 
read at the previous meeting was adopted. 

A Grand Lodge for the District of Colum- 
bia was organized seven weeks later, April 
8th, and the work of organizing subordinate 
Lodges begun on April 1 '2th, with Franklin, 
No. 2. The latter act was most fortunate, 
as Franklin, No. 2, is said to have saved the 
Order from destruction by keeping its torch 
burning for many months when the lights 
of sister Lodges had all been extinguished. 
On February 1, 1865, Alexandria Lodge was 
established at that city, in Virginia, after 
which little or no progress was made for 
two years. On April 18, 1866, Mount Ver- 
non Lodge was organized in the District of 
Columbia, and on July 30th Liberty Lodge, 
at the JS T avy Yard. A year later, February 
23. 1867, Excelsior Lodge, Xo. 1, was insti- 
tuted at Philadelphia, and in July of that 
year Keystone Lodge, at the same city. The 
success of this movement north of the Ma- 
son and Dixon line was pronounced. The 
growth of the society was steady, and later be- 
came rapid. In November, 1867, Maryland 
w r as invaded at Baltimore, and in December, 
New Jersey at Camden and Mount Holly, 
while in April, 1868, three Lodges were 
constituted in Delaware. During 1867 and 
1868 Lodges were also formed in Massachu- 
setts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and 
other New England States; in Ohio, In- 
diana, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, Kansas, 



264 



KNIGHTS OF PYTHIAS 



and Iowa. At that period, enlarged views 
prevailed as to the function and prospects of 
the society, and at a convention at Washing- 
ton, June 9, 1868, a new constitution was 
adopted, under which was organized and 
established, August 11, 1868, the Supreme 
Lodge, Knights of Pythias of the World. 
Eathbone Lodge was formed at New York 
city, and later in 1868 the Order appeared 
in California, West Virginia, and Nebraska. 
This order of knighthood, with the story 
of Damon and Pythias on which its cere- 
monials are founded; with its cardinal prin- 
ciples of Friendship, Charity, and Benevo- 
leuce; and the Pythian motto, "Be Gener- 
ous, Brave, and True," speedily found its 
way into nearly all the States and Territories 
of the Union, across the border into the 
Canadian Dominion, beyond the Atlantic 
into the United Kingdom, south into Mexico 
and west to the Hawaiian Islands. To-day 
there are about 5,000 members of the 
Order in foreign Lodges holding allegiance 
to the Supreme Lodge of the World in the 
Uni ted States. Its pri nciples are declared by 
John Van Valkenburg, Past Supreme Chan- 
cellor of the Order, " to be those of human- 
ity and religion," and its object, to promote 
the general good of mankind and to spread 
the light of morality and knowledge. Like 
Freemasonry, Pythian knighthood confers 
three ranks or degrees, and there are other 
similarities between them in addition to the 
fact that the chivalric orders naturally fur- 
nished 'some of the fabric on which Rath- 
bone and his successors wrought the designs 
which have made it distinctively Pythian. 
In May, 1866, after the Order had been 
almost at a stand for nearly two years, the 
ritual and work were revised and placed 
substantially on the basis occupied to-day. 
The first or Initiatory rank is that of Page; 
the second, the Armorial rank of Esquire; 
and the third, the Chivalric rank of Knight. 
The colors of the regalias are respectively 
blue, yellow, and red. Requisites for ad- 
mission include a belief in a Supreme Being 
and sound bodily health. 



By September 30, 1866, within two years 
and a half, the four active Lodges had only 
324 members; by December 31, 1866, only 
379; March 31, 1867, only 470; and on 
June 30, 1867, (six Lodges) the total was 
only 694. In 1887, twenty years later, the 
membership had increased to more than 
100,000, and in 1895, at thirty-one years of 
age, the Order embraced nearly 450,000 Sir 
Knights — had more than quadrupled within 
a decade. 

Justus Henry Rathbone, the founder, was 
born at Deerfield, Oneida County, N. Y., 
October 29, 1839. His father was a well- 
known lawyer at Utica, and his mother, 
Sarah E. Dwight, was a lineal descendant 
of Jonathan Edwards. After attending 
Mount Vernon boarding school, Court- 
land Academy, and Carlisle Seminary, he 
became a student at Madison University. 
In .1857 he went to Eagle Harbor, Mich., 
on Lake Superior, where he taught school 
and acted as clerk for a mining company. 
While there "he became so inspired with 
the story of Damon and Pythias" * that he 
wrote a ritual of an " Order of the Knights 
of Pythias." In 1861 he repaired to Ger- 
mantown, Pa., where he became chief clerk 
in the United States Hospital. In 1862 he 
married, and in 1863 was ordered to Wash- 
ington for duty in the medical department. 
He accepted a civil clerkship in the office of 
the Commissary General of Subsistence in 
1865, and in 1866 resigned to accept a clerk- 
ship in the Treasury Department, which he 
held until 1869, when he resigned and went 
to Boston to fill a position in a publishing 
house. He went to New York city in the 
interest of the firm, and became, treasurer 
of the Independent News Company, after- 
ward its superintendent. Returning to 
Washington, he entered the Adjutant-Gen- 
eral's office. Besides the ritual of the 
Knights of Pythias, Mr. Rathbone was the 



* The Knights of Pythias Complete Manual and 
Text Book. John Van Valkenburg, Canton, O., 

1887. 



KNIGHTS OF PYTHIAS 



265 



author of the ritual of the " S. P. K.,"* 
the "Monks of Arcadia/'* the "Mystic 
Order of Seven," * and other compositions, 
among them a musical burlesque, entitled 
" Pocahontas in Black," in which he him- 
self appeared. Besides his marked literary 
gifts, Mr. Rathbone possessed a talent for 
music, composition as well as execution, in 
which he was like all of those more imme- 
diately associated with him in founding the 
Order. He died at Lima, 0., December 9, 
1889. 

Among the earlier Supreme Chancellors, 
those on whom the work of building up the 
fraternity devolved, in addition to the 
founder, J. H. Rathbone, who was elected 
to that office in 1868, were Samuel Read of 
New Jersey, Henry C. Berry of Illinois, 
S. S. Davis of New Hampshire, an Odd 
Fellow, David B. Woodruff of Georgia, an 
Odd Fellow, George W. Lindsay of Mary- 
land, John P. Linton of Pennsylvania, and 
John Van Valkenbarg of Iowa. Of the five 
who more than others contributed to create 
and establish the Knights of Pythias, the 
first to die was Robert Allen Champion, in 
1873, at the early age of thirty. 

The Endowment Rank or grade was es- 
tablished, not without opposition, in 1877, 
owing to the demand for something in addi- 
tion to $1 minimum weekly sick benefits and 
$20 minimum funeral benefits. New secret 
insurance and endowment fraternities were 
being established right and left between 
1875 and 1880, and the Knights of Pythias 
were not slow to perceive that they had ma- 
chinery with which to promptly put such 
an organization full grown into the field. 
So the Endowment Rank was formed, with 
a separate government, subordinate to the 
Supreme Lodge. Neither the Endowment 
nor the Uniform ranks are ''higher" 
grades, but are created as additional ma- 
chinery with which to carry out the pur- 
poses of the Order. Ten years after the 
formation of the Endowment Rank it had 

* Unknown. 



paid for death benefits during that period a 
little less than $2,000,000. It has since, 
within ten years, paid nearly $10,000,000, or 
nearly $12,000,000 of death benefits in the 
eighteen years of its existence. There were 
more than 43,000 members of the Endow- 
ment Rank out of nearly 450,000 Sir 
Knights, and the total insurance in force 
was over $85,000,000 two years ago, repre- 
senting 2,800 sections scattered through 
the States and Territories and most of the 
Canadian provinces. 

The Uniform Rank is under the control of 
the Supreme Lodge. Eligibility to mem- 
bership is confined to those who have re- 
ceived the rank of Knight and who are ap- 
proved and withstand the test of the ballot. 
One of its purposes, beyond participating in 
the ceremonial of initiation which is said 
to be a masterpiece, is to supply a military 
branch. It seems to have been a logical out- 
come of the existence of Patriarchs Militant 
in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, 
and the Masonic Knights Templars. The 
regulations provide for parades twice each 
year, August 30th, anniversary day of the 
Uniform Rank, and February 19th, known 
as Pythian period. The Uniform Rank has 
grown rapidly in recent years, and numbers 
about 50,000 members. 

There are two organizations of wives, 
daughters, sisters, and mothers of Knights 
of Pythias, the Rathbone Sisters, formerly 
the Pythian Sisters, and the Pythian Sister- 
hood, ''neither of which," writes R. L. C. 
White, of the Supreme Lodge of the 
Knights of Pythias, "is recognized by the 
Supreme Lodge." In 1896 Mrs. M. D. 
Wood, of Kansas City, Mo., occupied the 
ranking position in the Rathbone Sisters of 
the World, and Mrs. Alva A. Young, of 
Concord, N. H., the founder, a correspond- 
ing position in the Pythian Sisterhood. A 
fundamental difference between the Rath- 
bone Sisters and the Pythian Sisterhood lies 
in the eligibility to membership in the for- 
mer of Knights of Pythias, while the latter 
prefers to remain a secret society for women 



266 KNIGHTS OF PYTHIAS OF NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICA, EUROPE, ASIA, AND AFRICA 



only. A ritual for an auxiliary secret so- 
ciety, to be composed of both men and 
women, had been presented to several meet- 
ings of the Supreme Lodge by James A. 
Hill, of Greencastle, Ind., prior to 1888, ask- 
ing for authority to organize the Pythian 
Sisters, bnt without success. (See Eathbone 
Sisters; also Pythian Sisterhood. For swp- 
plementary order of Knights of Pythias see 
Dramatic Order of Knights of Khorassan.) 
Knights of Pythias of North and 
South America, Europe, Asia, and 
Africa. — James C. Eoss, Supreme Chan- 
cellor of the World, of the organization 
named, a school principal at Savannah, 
Ga., on being asked as to the origin of this 
negro fraternity, writes as follows: 

At the session of the Supreme Lodge of the 
"World (white) held at Richmond, Va., March 8, 
1869, an application from a number of colored men 
of Philadelphia was made for a charter for a Lodge 
of Knights of Pythias. The petition was refused 
because of the color of the petitioners, per Consti- 
tution, Article viii., Section 5, etc. Thereupon E. 
A. Lightfoot, T. W. Stringer, and others, were nev- 
ertheless regularly initiated into the mysteries of 
the Order, receiving the degrees of Page, Esquire, 
Knight, etc., by those who had been regularly 
initiated into all the mysteries of the Order in a 
regular Lodge working under the (white) Supreme 
Lodge of Knights of Pythias. 

This appears to confess the clandestine 
nature of the colored Order, and technically 
warrants statements made by leading officials 
of the Knights of Pythias (white) that 
" there are no negro Knights of Pythias." 
Yet here is the other, the negro organization, 
with more than 40,000 members scattered 
through Massachusetts, New York, New 
Jersey, Pennsylvania, District of Columbia, 
Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, 
South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, 
Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Tennessee, 
Arkansas, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illi- 
nois, Montana, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, 
Kansas, Indian Territory, Oklahoma, Cali- 
fornia, Colorado, Michigan, and Minnesota, 
in twenty of which States there are Grand 
Lodges. The colored Order also has Lodges 



on several West India Islands and in Cen- 
tral America, and in all distributes about 
$60,000 annually in relief to sick and dis- 
tressed members. 

There is an auxiliary society to which 
women, relatives of members of the Order, 
are admitted, and in these, as well as the 
Lodges of colored Knights, death, sick, 
and disability benefits are paid. In 1891 
the Supreme Lodge of negro Knights met 
at New York city and paraded with 700 
Sir Knights in line in full uniform. As 
may be inferred, there is no affiliation or 
relationship between the white and negro 
Orders of Pythian knighthood other than 
the similarity of names, emblems, titles, 
uniforms, rituals, and ceremonials. 

Knights of St. John and Malta (Mod- 
ern). — Introduced into America through 
Kobert E. A. Land, of Hamilton, Ontario, 
at Toronto, in 1870, by the Imperial Parent, 
Grand Black Encampment of the Universe, 
situated at Glasgow. Scotland. The latter 
declares itself a lineal descendant of the an- 
cient chivalric Order of Knights of St. John 
of Jerusalem, Rhodes, Malta, etc., but much 
is lacking to substantiate the claim. (For 
its probable origin see Non-Masonic Orders 
of Malta in America.) The Grand Encamp- 
ment of Canada introduced the Order into 
New York city in 1874, when the title of 
the supreme body resolved itself into Su- 
preme Encampment of America. In 1878 
this body expunged the Orange and alleged 
Masonic degrees from its ritual, in order 
to confer only the orders which paralleled 
those identified with the genuine, ancient 
Knights of Malta, as explained in the pre- 
ceding reference. This antagonized the 
parent body in Scotland, and in 1881 the 
Supreme Encampment of America, which 
had reorganized in 1878 as the Chapter Gen- 
eral of America, withdrew from affiliation 
with the Imperial Parent. This resulted 
in a rebellion by a few subordinate Chap- 
ters, and, in 1883, in the formation, by can- 
celled and seceding Chapters, of a Grand 
Priory of America, Ancient and Illustrious- 



KNIGHTS OF ST. JOHN AND MALTA 



267 



Order, Knights of Malta. This organiza- 
tion was recognized and chartered in the 
same year by the Glasgow Imperial Parent, 
when it promptly reversed the reforms of 
the Chapter G-eneral of America. That 
action resulted in another schism known as 
"the McClintock rebellion/' which took 
shape, January, 1884, as the Grand Com- 
mandery, Ancient and Illustrious Order, 
Knights of Malta. In 1889 the latter was 
recognized and chartered by the Imperial 
Parent, the Grand Priory having become 
dormant. Its Scotch charter is still believed 
to be extant, although its members are affili- 
ated, very generally, with bodies chartered 
by the Chapter General of America. 

Owing to its reforms and its attitude 
toward the ancient Order of Malta, the 
Chapter General of America, Knights of 
St. John and Malta, may be said to be an 
offspring merely of the general plan of the 
ancient chivalric Order of Malta, although 
it derived its warrant of constitution from 
the Imperial Parent of Scotland.* It has 
long ceased to be governed by the latter, 
and has no affiliation with any other body. 
The Order, while being in a sense universal, 
admitting Christian men of all nations into 
its ranks, is American in its character so 
far as local government is concerned. Its 
ritual teaches the fatherhood of God, the 
brotherhood of man, mercy, charity, hos- 
pitality, unity, peace, and concord. Its 
constitution provides for endowments, cer- 
tificates being issued from 8500, 81,000, and 
$2,000. Its ceremonies are simple and im- 
pressive. The Chapter General is composed 
of its own officers, representatives of sub- 
ordinate bodies styled Eneamjnnents, Past 
Grand Commanders, Grand Priors, District 
Deputies, and Past Commanders. In each 
State the Order is under the supervision of 
a Grand Prior, and its temporal affairs are 

* For an account of the introduction of the mod- 
ern Order of St. John and Malta into this country 
and the organization of the Ancient and Illustrious 
Order, Knights of Malta in the United States, see 
Non-MasoniC Orders of Malta in America. 



managed by a board of seven, consisting of 
the Grand Commander, Grand Chancellor, 
Grand Almoner, and Grand Medical Ex- 
aminer, who are elected annually, and three 
Grand Trustees elected alternately to hold 
office three years. This Council meets at 
New York every month during the recess of 
the Chapter General. There are Encamp- 
ments in New York, New Jersey, Delaware, 
Maryland, Michigan, Texas, California, 
Illinois, South Carolina, Arkansas, and 
Canada, with a membership of over 6,000. 
At the annual convocation in 1894 steps 
were taken to place the military department 
on the plan, as to grade and rank, of the 
United States army, general direction being- 
given to General Thomas C. McKean. 

The College of Ancients is a modern in- 
stitution, having been formed in 1880. It 
was introduced by Robert E. A. Land, a 
member of the Loyal Orange Institution, a 
Freemason, and a member of the Order of 
St. John and Malta, as an Order of Merit 
for the superior officers of the Chapter Gen- 
eral. Membership is limited to one hundred 
and forty-four. The aims of the College are 
social, beneficiary, historical, and literary. 
The College meets in Preceptories, and its 
rites and symbolism are based on the tradi- 
tions of chivalry. It presents twenty-one 
grades in the " Perfect and Sublime Rite of 
Exalted Chivalry/' four in the Encamp- 
ments, and seventeen in the College of An- 
cients. These grades are divided as follows: 
First Class: 1, Knights of Justice; 2, Hos- 
pitalers; 3, Priesthood; and, 4, Red Cross 
and Sepulchre. The ancient Order of Malta 
comprised only three orders, Knights, Hos- 
pitalers, and Priests, but some one has added 
the Red Cross and Sepulchre "as a proper 
symbol of the old Christian religion." (See 
Knights of Rome and Red Cross of Con- 
stantine.) Second class, Ancient English 
Rite, Order of Aquila: 5, Serving Brother; 
6, Novice; and, 7, Knight of Aquila. This 
introduces serving brethren and a degree of 
knighthood manifestly borrowed for the oc- 
casion. Third class, historic Maltese grades: 



268 



KNIGHTS OF ST. JOHN, RHODES, AND MALTA 



8, Brother of the Hospital; 9, Knight of 
the Dragon ; and, 10, Secret Councillor. 
This suggests that some constructive as 
well as imitative ability was exercised by 
the builders of the College. Fourth class, 
aucient affiliated chivalry: 11, Knight of 
St. Anthony, and, 12, Knight of St. Lazarus. 
Fifth class, historic Eoman and Grecian 
grades: 13, Knight of the Senate; and, 14, 
Knight of the Council. Sixth class, Ke- 
ligio-philosophic grades: 15, Knight of the 
East; 16, Princely Order;* 17, Star and 
Scimetar;* 18, Adept Brother; and, 19, 
Knight of the West. The foregoing shows 
some originality in construction as well as 
taste in selection, a number of the degrees 
touching Buddhism and Mohammedanism, 
and others the religious philosophy of this 
Maltese Order. Seventh class, Perfect and 
Sublime Order: 20, Commander of Malta. 
The Master grade creates the Commander- 
elect a Perfect and Sublime Knight. Eighth 
class, Official and Ultimate Grade: 21, Knight 
of the Grand Cross. This grade is honorary 
and official, and membership is limited to 
one hundred and forty-four. Evidently 
Land and his associates were familiar with 
the rituals of the dormant Masonic rites of 
Memphis and of Mizraim, as well as of the 
Masonic Order of Knights of Eome and of 
the Eed Cross of Constantine. 

Knights of St. John, Rhodes, and 
Malta, of Knights Hospitalers of St. 
John of Jerusalem (Ancient.) — Founded 
in 1048, the period of the first Crusade, one 
of the most illustrious orders of religious 
and military knighthood. It was- not a 
secret order, and none of the modern or- 
ders of Malta, Masonic or other, has traced 
its origin to it other than that the former 
may have served as a model or contributed 
of its traditions. In consequence of the 
resort of European pilgrims and traders to 
Jerusalem in the eighth century, it had 

*Nos. 16 and 17 are not identical with Nos. 5 
and 6 of Guide Book of 1854, although bearing the 
same name. (See Non-Masonic Orders of Malta in 
America.) 



become necessary, with the consent of the 
Saracens, to build hospitals and places of 
entertainment. In 1048 certain merchants 
of Amain, Italy, obtained permission from 
the Egyptian Caliph to erect within the 
walls of Jerusalem an asylum or hospital 
for Latin pilgrims, where they might cele- 
brate mass according to the Latin ritual, 
without fear of the Mohammedans or others. 
The governor, by that prince's order, as- 
signed them a piece of ground about a 
stone's cast from the Holy Sepulchre, where- 
on they built a convent dedicated to the 
Holy Virgin. There dwelt an abbot and a 
number of Benedictine monks, who received 
and entertained pilgrims and gave alms to 
the poor, those unable to pay tribute to the 
Moslems for permission to visit the . holy 
places. Subsequently the monks built two 
houses of entertainment near by, one for 
men, with a chapel dedicated to St. John 
Eleeman the compassionate, and one for 
women, dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene. 
These hew houses had no income of their 
own, but the monks and pilgrims whom 
they received were maintained by the abbot 
of the convent of the Holy Virgin, who 
continued to be the recipient of alms and 
charities of devout and wealthy Christians. 
This institution, governed by the Benedic- 
tine monks, was the cradle of the Order of 
St. John. Seventeen years later the Tar- 
tars overran Palestine and slaughtered the 
Moslem garrisons. The inhabitants of Jeru- 
salem scarce met with a better fate. Thou- 
sands were butchered, the Hospital of St. 
John was plundered and the Holy Sepul- 
chre itself would have been destroyed had 
not avarice prevented. The fear of losing 
the revenues derived from the pilgrims 
alone preserved the tomb of our Saviour. 
Then the Turcomans exacted heavier trib- 
utes than ever, and many sick and weary 
pilgrims perished at the gates of Jerusalem 
without the consolation of even seeing the 
Holy Sepulchre. Toward the close of the 
eleventh century Peter the Hermit, who 
had made a journey to Jerusalem, was so 



KNIGHTS OF ST. JOHN, RHODES, AND MALTA 



269 



touched by the sufferings of the pilgrims, 
that he conceived the design of rescuing the 
Holy Land from the infidels. Armed with 
a letter from Simon, the Greek Patriarch of 
Jerusalem, to Urban II., the head of the 
Latin Church, he returned to Italy, received 
the blessing of the Pope, and in less than a 
year roused all Europe in a crusade against 
the infidel. The Pope, having heard of the 
success of the Hermit's, mission, called a 
council at Clermont in Auvergne, to which 
the entire populace, from peasant to prince, 
responded. After hearing of the miseries 
of the Christians in the East, a thou- 
sand voices cried for an opportunity to go 
to the defence of their brethren in Jesus 
Christ, declaring, " Dieu le veut," God 
wills it. By 1097 the Latin army had ad- 
vanced into Syria, where it besieged Antioch 
for seven months, when the Caliph of 
Egypt, taking advantage of the situation, 
entered the field and captured Jerusalem 
after it had been held by the Turks for 
thirty-eight years. He informed the Latin 
army that he knew how to hold the city 
without foreign aid, but that its gates would 
always open to unarmed Christian pilgrims. 
The Crusaders replied that the same key.s 
which had opened the gates of Nice, Tar- 
sus, Edessa, and Antioch would open those 
of Jerusalem and on June 7, 1099, the 
Latin army encamped before the walls of 
Jerusalem. After five weeks of unsuccess- 
ful attempts to capture the city, the army 
again advanced to the assault on July 15, 
"at the hour," says a chronicler, "when 
the Saviour of the world gave up the ghost," 
and at three in the afternoon the standard 
of the Cross waved on the walls of Jerusa- 
lem. Thus, after four hundred and sixty 
years of bondage, the Holy City passed from 
under the Mohammedan yoke. The victory 
thus won was tarnished by the ferocity of 
the conquerors. A little later these Chris- 
tian warriors proceeded to regulate the gov- 
ernment of the city. Godfrey de Bouillon 
refused a crown and rejected the title of 
king, but accepted that of "Defender and 



Lord of the Holy Tomb." Godfrey imme- 
diately founded several new churches and 
inspected the house of the Hospital of St. 
John, which was crowded with wounded 
soldiers. To increase the endowment of the 
liospital, Godfrey bestowed on it the Lord- 
ship of Montboire in Brabant, with all its 
dependencies, and his example was followed 
by several of the chief Crusaders, so that in 
a short time the Hospitalers had at their 
command the revenues of a number of rich 
manor houses in Europe and Asia. 

Peter Gerard, administrator of the Hos- 
pital of St. John, and his companions, em- 
boldened by the favor which they enjoyed, 
expressed awishto separate themselves from 
the Monastery of St. Mary and pursue their 
works of charity alone. As long as the 
brotherhood were poor they continued in 
obedience to the monastery and paid tithes 
to the Patriarch ; but with the tide of wealth 
which then began to flow in upon them, the 
Hospitalers coveted a total remission of all 
the burdens to which they were subject, and 
found no difficulty in obtaining all that they 
desired. They accordingly formally abjured 
the world and took a regular habit, a black 
robe with a white cross of eight points on 
the left breast. The Patriarch of Jerusa- 
lem, after first clothing them, received from 
them three vows which they made publicly 
at the Holy Sepulchre. The institution 
was subsequently recognized and confirmed 
in all its endowments by Paschal II. The 
same pontiff also exempted the property of 
the Hospital from tithes. The rapid en- 
richment of the Order and their piety led to 
the erection of a superb church on the spot 
which, according to tradition, had served 
as the retreat of Zacharias, the father of St. 
John the Baptist, and from that time the 
Order was called "Brethren Hospitalers of 
St. John the Baptist of Jerusalem. " Gerard 
also founded subordinate hospitals in the 
principal maritime provinces of the West, 
the first " Commanderies " of the Order, 
and continued to fill his holy office until 
the reign of Baldwin II. in 1118, when at 



270 



KNIGHTS OF ST. JOHN, RHODES, AND MALTA 



an exceedingly old age he died, honored and 
beloved by all. 

Eaymond Du Puy was elected to succeed 
him. Gerard had been a man of peace, but 
Du Puy had been bred in camps. He there- 
fore formed the project of combining the 
duties of monk with those of the soldier, 
to wage a perpetual crusade against the ene- 
mies of Christ. Under his administration 
the Hospitalers were divided into Nobility, 
Clergy, and Serving Brethren. The Nobles 
or Knights of Justice were destined for the 
profession of arms ; the Priests or Chaplains 
were intrusted with ecclesiastical functions, 
and the Serving Brethren consisted of those 
who bore arms and- of domestic servants. 
Subsequently, under the administration of 
Helion de Villanova, the Knights were di- 
vided into classes called Languages, after the 
great tongues of Europe : the Italian, Ger- 
man, Aragonese, the three French dialects; 
Provencal, Auvergne and common French, 
and the English. The ceremonies of recep- 
tion and profession were in charge of the 
spiritual head of the Latin Church, were 
necessarily public, and form no part of mod- 
ern Orders of Malta. The legislative power 
of the Order was vested in the General Chap- 
ter, which consisted of the Grand Master, 
the Conventual Bailiffs, the Bishop of the 
Church, and the Grand Priors according to 
rank, selected from the various Priories. 
In every province there were one or more 
Grand Priories, presided over by Grand 
Priors, and beneath these were Command- 
eries, o,ver each of which there was a Com- 
mander. There were scattered throughout 
Europe, in that period, which De Vertot 
called the golden age of the Order, 596 Com- 
manderies comprising 19,000 manor houses. 
During the period in which the Order was 
occupied in defence of the Holy Land, the 
Commanderies served as schools of prepa- 
ration for Knights who might be sent to 
Palestine to reenforce the ranks of their 
brethren. 

After the recapture of Jerusalem by the 
Saracens in 1187, the Knights Hospitalers 



retired to Margat in Phoenicia, and thence to 
St. John d'Acre, where, aided by the Tem- 
plars and the Teutonic Knights, they with- 
stood for a time one of the most celebrated 
sieges of the Crusades. In 1291 that city 
was captured by the Saracens, and the Grand 
Master and remaining Knights took refuge 
on the Isle of Cyprus, where they remained 
eighteen years and assumed for the time the 
name of Knights of Cyprus. Aided by sev- 
eral European states in 1310, they descended 
upon Rhodes and established their convent, 
where they remained for over two hundred 
years the protectors of the Christian com- 
merce of the Mediterranean. In 1522 the 
Order was driven from the island by the 
Turks, when it repaired to the Island of 
Candia, and subsequently sojourned at Cus- 
trio, Messina, and Rome. At length Charles 
V., Emperor of Germany, vested in the Or- 
der the complete and perpetual sovereignty 
of the islands of Malta and Gozo, and in 
accordance with this treaty, in 1530, the 
Knights took formal possession of Malta. 
L. Isle Adam, then Grand Master, hero of 
the siege of Rhodes, convened a General 
Chapter, and established the convent. 
Thenceforth the Order became known as 
" Knights of Malta," a title often bestowed 
upon them, even in official documents, in 
place of the original, Knights Hospitalers 
of St. John of Jerusalem. At the time of 
the Reformation, Paul III. was Pope, and 
the Order acknowledged the Pope as its 
spiritual head. The enemies of the Pope 
were the friends of Henry VIII., and the 
friends of Paul were the enemies of the Brit- 
ish king. So the Knights of St. John were 
made to suffer. In 1534 the Language of 
England of the Order of St. John was abol- 
ished by act of Parliament, its revenues 
were seized, and the Knights thrown on the 
charity of their friends. Some suffered by 
the axe, and others fled to Malta. The Lan- 
guage of England was revived under Mary, 
who nominated a Grand Prior, and estab- 
lished it in the old home at Clerkenwell. 
It was subsequently abolished by Elizabeth, 



KNIGHTS OF ST. JOHN, RHODES, AND MALTA 



271 



Oil September 19, 1792, the French Direc- 
tory decreed that the Order should cease to 
exist within the limits of France, which was 
followed by a general plunder of the Corn- 
man deries. Such members as did not escape 
the country were thrown into prison. The 
Grand Master was taken seriously ill, but 
before he died he despatched an ambassador 
to the Court of Russia to demand assistance 
from Catherine II. for the support of the 
Order. Catherine died before the ambassa- 
dor reached St. Petersburg, and Paul I. was 
on the throne when the ambassador arrived 
there. The mission was successful, and the 
ambassador sent a courier to Malta with 
particulars of the arrangement. But the 
courier was seized by French soldiers, and 
the contents of the despatches were made 
known to the Directory of France. Louis de 
Hompesch, who had become Grand Master, 
accepted the offers of the Russian Emperor, 
and sent Count Litter to the Russian Court 
as ambassador extraordinary, who presented 
the Emperor with the Grand Cross of the 
Order, by virtue of which Paul I., Novem- 
ber 29, 1797, assumed the title of Protector 
of the Order. On June 6, 1798, the French 
fleet appeared off Malta, and on June 11, 
Bonaparte entered Valetta, when Hompesch 
surrendered, lie was declared a traitor, 
because he had received 600,000 crowns 
from the French, and was permitted to 
retire to Montpellier. He died May 12, 
1805. The great body of Knights pro- 
ceeded to Russia, and on October 27, 1798, 
at a General Chapter, the Emperor Paul 
was elected Grand Master. This election 
was made valid by the abdication of Hom- 
pesch in July, 1798. After the loss of 
Malta a few Italian Knights sought refuge in 
Sicily. In 1827 the Pope gave the Knights 
permission to reside at Ferrara, and in 
1831 invited them to Rome, where he gave 
them a palace that had belonged to one of 
the ambassadors of the Order, and commis- 
sioned them to take charge of his military 
hospitals. In 1839 the Emperor of Austria 
restored a portion of the estates of the Or- 



der in Lombardo, Yenetia, and gave per- 
mission to the nobility and others to found 
new Commanderies in his Italian dominions. 

The German Language became extinct 
after the peace of Pressburg in 1805. The 
Bailiwick of Brandenburg became an inde- 
pendent institution during the Grand Mas- 
tership of Fulk de Villaret, conqueror of 
Rhodes, in 1309. This schism continued 
until 1382, when it was settled by treaty at 
Heimbach in Alsatia, one of the articles of 
which was that the Brandenburg branch 
should be allowed to choose its own Bailiff 
or Master, on approval by the Grand Prior 
of Germany. The Bailiffs of Brandenburg 
continued thus subject to the Order until 
the Reformation, when the Knights em- 
braced the new mode of worship. Later 
the House of Prussia took the Bailiwick un- 
der its protection. During the Reforma- 
tion six of the thirteen Commanderies were 
destroyed by the Lutherans. The remain- 
der were presided over by a prince of the 
royal family until Xapoleon confiscated 
them and abolished the Order at the peace 
of Pressburg in 1805. In 1812 the right of 
nomination was again vested in the King of 
Prussia, and this branch of the Order is still 
presided over by a prince of the royal house. 

The Languages of Provence, Auvergne, 
and France, although suppressed by the 
French Directory, asserted their rights and 
privileges on the restoration of the Bourbons, 
but were declared extinct by Louis Philippe. 
The Languages of Aragon and Castile, 
which united, after the suppression of the 
English Language by Henry VIII. , with- 
drew from the government of the Order 
after the treaty of Amiens in 1802. They 
were subsequently abolished by Joseph Bon- 
aparte while on the Spanish throne. They 
were revived on the return of Ferdinand 
IY., but declared extinct in 1834. In 1814 
the Languages of Provence, Auvergne, and 
France, taking heart at the humiliation of 
Xapoleon, formed for themselves a union 
to which those of Aragon and Castile gave 
their adhesion. A General Chapter was 



272 



KNIGHTS OF ST. JOHN, RHODES, AND MALTA 



held at which a capitular commission was 
elected to act as an executive council, over 
which Prince Camille de Bohan, Grand 
Prior of Aquitaine, presided. 

It was in 1826-27 that an effort was 
made to revive the English Language, and 
several instruments were signed in Paris by 
the capitular commission, authorizing a re- 
organization of the Language of England. 
On January 29, 1831, a Chapter of the 
Knights then forming the English Language 
was held, at which the Chevalier Chastelan, 
an envoy extraordinary from the continental 
Languages, was present. At that meeting 
Sir Robert Peel was elected Grand Prior of 
England, and the Language was regularly 
resuscitated. The present seat of the Order 
in England is No. 8 St. Martin's Place, 
Trafalgar Square, where, on June 24, St. 
John's Day, the Chapter General of the 
Order is annually convoked. 

The Order in England is composed of three 
classes: Knights, Chaplains, and Serving 
Brethren. The Knights are of three grades : 
Bailies or Knights, Grand Crosses; Knights 
Commanders and Knights of Justice. Wo- 
men are likewise admitted and may be ad- 
vanced to the dignity of Grand Cross. The 
Order also admits associates under the name 
of Knights of Grace, Honorary Knights, and 
Donats. The last are those who contribute 
to the fund of the Language for benevolent 
and charitable purposes, and are entitled to 
wear the demi-cross of the Order. In an- 
cient times' the Language of England in- 
cluded three Grand Priories — St. John of 
London, of Ireland, and of Scotland — which 
were let out to receivers and secular farmers 
who paid rent to the common treasury. 
Many proved unfaithful in their trusts, and 
the management was placed in the hands of 
the Grand Priors in the several districts, 
who soon began to consider them as their 
own property, and in instances consumed 
the revenues. But the revenues of the Or- 
der were greatly increased by the annihila- 
tion of the Knights Templars by the Pope 
in 1312, who gave their possessions to the 



Knights of St. John. The Temple, the 
main seat of the Templar Order in Eng- 
land, after passing into the hands of the 
Hospitalers of St. John, was let by them for 
an annual rental of £10 to a body of lawyers, 
who took possession of the old hall and the 
gloomy cells of the military monks, and 
converted them into the most ancient com- 
mon law university of England. It was 
there that judges of the Court of Common 
Pleas were made Knights, being the earliest 
instance on record of the grant of the hon- 
ors of Knighthood for purely civil services, 
and the professors of common law, who had 
the exclusive privilege of practising in that 
court, assumed the title or degree of Fratres 
Servientese, so that Knights and Serving 
Brethren similar to those of the Knights of 
St. John were curiously introduced into the 
profession of the law. The chief seat of 
the Hospitalers Order in England was St. 
John's Gate, Clerkenwell, founded by Jor- 
dan, Lord of Briset, in the reign of Henry 
I. Heraclius, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, 
consecrated their church and Wat Tyler's 
rabble burnt the Preceptory. In process of 
time it was restored, and it was there that 
Mary temporarily revived the Order, and 
her charter, never having been revoked, 
forms, in part, the basis of the present Or- 
der. On the 24th of January, 1893, the old 
Gate of St. John was formally made over to 
the Language with imposing ceremonies. 

The Hospitalers and Templars were intro- 
duced into Scotland prior to 1153. Malcolm 
IV. incorporated the Hospitalers' }3ossessions 
into a barony, and a charter was granted them 
by Alexander II., June 3, 1231, confirming 
grants by his predecessors. The Preceptory 
of Torphichen in West Lothian became their 
chief residence in Scotland until their final 
suppression in the middle of the sixteenth 
century. James IV. created the barony 
and regality of Torphichen into a temporal 
Lordship and ordained that by virtue of 
the office the Preceptors of Torphichen 
should take their places as peers of Parlia- 
ment, by the name and title of Lords of St. 



KNIGHTS OF ST. JOHN, RHODES, AND MALTA 



273 



John. At the suppression of the Templar 
Order by Philip of France many of the 
Knights retired to Scotland to escape per- 
secution. There, says the chronicler, they 
obtained lands and revenues, and, with the 
Knights Hospitalers of St. John, lived to- 
gether on amicable terms. About the com- 
mencement of the reign of James IV. a 
union was effected between the Knights of 
the Temple and those of St. John, and their 
lands were consolidated under the super- 
intendence of the Preceptor of St. John. 
These interests were represented in the 
Scottish Parliament by Preceptors or Lords 
of St. John down to the period of the Ref- 
ormation. This union remained unbroken 
until the administration of Sir James Sandi- 
lands of Calder, who was appointed Grand 
Prior of Scotland as fourth Lord of St. 
John. He was the personal friend of John 
Knox, and through the persuasion of that 
reformer renounced the Catholic religion 
in 1553, although he continued for some 
time to maintain his office and dignities. 
In 1560 he was sent by the congregation 
Parliament of Scotland to France to lay 
their proceedings before Francis and Mary. 
He was received by Cardinal of Lorrain, 
who loaded him with reproaches, accusing 
him of violating his obligation as a Knight 
of a Holy Order and dismissed him with- 
out an answer. On his return to Scotland, 
feeling himself no longer authorized to re- 
tain his office, he resigned the entire prop- 
erty of the combined Orders into the hands 
of the Crown, when, on condition of an im- 
mediate payment of 10,000 crowns and an 
annual duty of 500 marks, the Queen, on 
January 24, 1564, erected the possession 
of the Orders into the temporal Lordship 
of Torphichen. At his death, in 1596, his 
title and the Malta j)ossessions descended 
to the House of Calder, in whose hands they 
remain to the present day. After the re- 
vival of the English Language in 1831, the 
Right Hon. Eobert Sandilands, Lord Tor- 
phichen, was admitted and nominated to 
the Grand Priory of Scotland as Chief Pre- 
18 



ceptor of Torphichen. After the desertion 
of Sir James Sandilands, the Hospitalers and 
Templars who still adhered to the Catholic 
faith placed themselves under the leader- 
ship of David Seaton and retired to the 
Continent. 

The only serious claim by modern, so- 
called, "Knights of Malta," to being a 
lineal descendant of the ancient Knights 
of St. John, Rhodes, and Malta is that 
made by the Ancient and Illustrious Knights 
of Malta, introduced into this country in 
1870 from Scotland, where it was founded 
in 1844 by Irishmen who were Orangemen, 
and some of them, probably, Freemasons. 
After an extended correspondence with a 
number of its most illustrious representa- 
tives in the United States, in an attempt to 
get at the proof, if there be any, that this 
modern Scotch -Irish Order of Malta is di- 
rectly descended from the ancient Order, but 
without tangible results, inquiry was made 
of G. C. Young, M.D., Washington, N. J., 
Past Grand Commander, and editor of ''The 
Red Cross Knight," which announces itself 
as " the mouthpiece of the Order of Knights 
of Malta." Dr. Young writes that "the 
Protestant cause (in Scotland, in 1591) now 
having made a complete triumph, the Order 
(ancient Order of Knights of Malta) is not 
so active and prominent, but that it kept 
up an existence we have ample proof. We 
know that the Order was active and evi- 
dently well known in 1643, for at that 
period, two years after the massacre of Irish 
Protestants, it was introduced into Ireland 
for the protection of the Protestants who 
had escaped. The Order seemed to be un- 
noticed in public affairs until the Stewart 
(or Stuart) party became active in 1745," 
when " it seems to have been reduced to one 
Encampment in Scotland and from this one 
Encampment the Imperial Black Encamp- 
ment of the Universe (the Scotch-Irish body 
referred to as having appeared in Scotland 
about 1844) asserted its title to this distinc- 
tion, believing at the time that it was the 
only Encampment of the Protestant branch 



274 



KNIGHTS OF THE SHERWOOD FOREST 



of the Order in existence. This took place 
somewhere about the period the. Order was 
driven from the Island of Malta, 1798, and 
in 1825 a Grand Master of the Eoyal Orange- 
men, he being a member of the Knights 
of St. John and Malta, was elected Grand 
Master of the Order of Knights of St. John, 
and introduced the requirement that to be 
a Knight of Malta one must first be an 
Orangeman." 

It would be useless to argue with those to 
whom the foregoing appeals as proof, to 
show the absolute lack of any historic foun- 
dation for the claim made that the modern 
Ancient and Illustrious Order of Malta has 
any connection with the ancient Order of 
Malta. It would be easier to trace Free- 
masonry back to King Solomon's temple than 
to connect the Irish-Orange Black Knights 
of Malta with the Order which Sir James 
Sandilands once presided over in Scotland. 

Knights of the Sherwood Forest. — 
An appendant Order of Forestry, instituted 
at St. Louis in 1879. (See Foresters of 
America. ) 

Loyal Order of Moose of the World. 
— Cincinnati is credited with having given 
birth to the fraternity with this title, but 
no one communicated with at that city has 
been able to vouch for its continued exist- 
ence. It is a mere conjecture that at- 
tempted rivalry to the Benevolent and Pro- 
tective Order of Elks may have been re- 
sponsible for the name of the society. 

Monks of Arcadia. — This society is 
not known to have had an active existence. 
Its ritual was written by Justus H. Rath- 
bone, founder of the Knights of Pythias. 
(See the latter.) 

Mystic Order of Seven.— Title of the 
ritual of a secret society, prepared by the 
founder of the Knights of Pythias. (See 
the latter.) 

Non-Masonic Orders of Malta, in the 
United States. — During the Reformation 
in Scotland, the ancient Order of Knights 
of Malta was entirely dispersed in that 
kingdom, and from 1560 down to 1831, the 



history of the British Isles gives no proof 
or mention of an Encampment of Knights 
of Malta other than those connected with 
the Masonic bodies. But a secret society 
calling itself Knights of Malta, Knights of 
Rhodes, etc., wholly unconnected with the 
ancient Order of Malta, existed in the 
British Isles from the period of the Refor- 
mation down to a very late date. It is met 
with as the Royal Black Association or, 
more frequently, the Royal Black. Associa- 
tion of Knights of Malta, and has always 
conferred an Order of Knights of Justice 
(Malta) and performed the old Hospitaler 
ceremonies. It is merely a tradition of 
the modern li Black" Order that after the 
conversion of the land and Priory of Tor- 
phichen into a temporal Lordship, the Or- 
der was used N as a secret instrument on be- 
half of the Reformed Church, and that a 
large number of the prominent men of 
Scotland, among them John Knox, became 
enlisted under its banners. After the death 
of Sir James Sandilands in 1596 and the tri- 
umph of the Protestant cause, the Order fell 
into obscurity. Being a secret organization, 
it would not have come under the noEice of 
historians unless engaged in political move- 
ments. But that it kept up an existence is 
claimed by some in interest, " though at 
widely extended periods/' The fraternity 
was known in 1643, two years after the 
massacre of Irish Protestants in 1641, when 
it was said to have been introduced into 
Ireland for the protection of those who had 
providentially escaped, which, to some, ac- 
counts for the existence in Ireland of En- 
campments of the Black Order, after the 
total extinction of the English Language 
by Henry VIII. ' It was encountered again 
about 1795, associated with Orange bodies 
in Ireland but it had become corrupted and 
was well-nigh extinct. It remained, how- 
ever, a part of the Orange institution until 
the attempted suppression of that body by 
an act of Parliament, when the Orangemen 
found it " necessary to place themselves un- 
der the protection of the Masonic body. - " 



NON-MASONIC ORDERS OF MALTA, IN THE UNITED STATES 



275 



(See Loyal Orange Institution.) Thus, the 
three Orders became intimately associated, 
and when the Orange and the Black Orders 
were revived independently of Masonry, not 
a few of the features of Freemasonry clung 
to both. 

But there is no trace of this Malta Order 
in Scotland until about 1844, when an as- 
sociation styled the Grand Black Lodge of 
Scotland, or the Imperial Parent Grand 
Black Encampment of the Universe, by 
public proclamation claimed supreme gov- 
ernment over the Eeligious and Military 
Order of the Knights of Malta. From all 
that is learned of the organization of the 
Grand Encampment of Scotland, it would 
appear that a few Orangemen from County 
Tyrone, Ireland, who- had taken refuge in 
Glasgow for reasons which are duly re- 
corded, established a " Grand Lodge " 
which undertook to confer various degrees 
and inflict queer English on its patrons. , 
By reference to a warrant, October 1, 1858, 
to Sir Thomas -C. Knowles, to hold 1 a Pro- 
vincial Grand Priory for British North 
America, it is -therein styled Provincial 
Grand Commission, No. 1, and the date of 
public proclamation claiming supreme au- 
thority over the Order of Malta is given as 
March 7, 1853. The Grand Priory estab- 
lished by Thomas C. Knowles did not live 
long. The first Encampment organized in 
America, November 30, 1870, was St. John's, 
at Toronto, Ontario, No. 74 on the Grand 
Eegister of Scotland, now No. 1 on the 
Grand Register of America.' A District 
Commandery was opened November 22, 

1873, by six Canadian Encampments, and 
the progress of the Order requiring the ad- 
ministration of a body possessing greater 
authority, a grand warrant was applied for 
and granted, which resulted in the institu- 
tion of the Grand Encampment of Canada, 
September 29, 1873, with Edward F. Clarke 
as Grand Commander: On August 12, 

1874, the Order was introduced into the 
United States, through Robert E. A. Land, 
of Hamilton, Ontario, and by the authority 



of the Imperial Parent when George Wash- 
ington Encampment, No. 101, was insti- 
tuted at New York city. At the semi-annual 
convocation of the Grand Encampment of 
Canada, January 27, 1875, that Grand body 
resolved itself into the Supreme Encamp- 
ment of America. This was in pursuance 
of letters foreshadowing the conferring of 
continental jurisdiction here, which au- 
thority, however, did not arrive until July, 
1875/ During the period 1875 to, 1878 
many members in America began to realize 
that the composition of the documents 
emanating from the Imperial Parent was 
not consistent and at the convocation in 
Albany, N. Y., 1878, the ritual was revised 
and rewritten on the basis of the four divi- 
sions, Knights of Justice, Hospitalers, 
Priesthood, and Red Cross, and the title 
of the Supreme body was changed to Chap- 
ter General of America. At the Toronto 
convocation, September 14, 1880, sectarian- 
ism in constitution and ritual was discarded. 
When introduced into America, the ritual 
of this Order of Malta was filled with ex- 
crescences and titular extravagance. An 
Orange qualification (the Orange and Pur- 
ple degrees) was required of an applicant, 
and it was therefore corrupt as to titles and 
principles. No officer in the ancient Malta 
Order was ever styled " Generalissimo," 
" Captain General/' "Senior" or "Junior 
Warden." These titles belong to the Tem- 
plar Order. The use of the Red Tem- 
plar cross, cross pate, instead of the white 
cross of Malta ; the display of Templar 
colors, white and black, instead of the 
Maltese colors, red and black ; the wear- 
ing of the Templar jewels, and the use of 
Templar ceremonies at installations, were 
some of the minor corruptions which the 
Chapter General drove out when it restored 
the proper colors in garb and cross, de- 
signed jewels adapted to and in harmony 
with ideas inherent in the Order, drafted 
an original service of installation, and re- 
verted as far as possible to ancient forms 
and usages. 



276 



NON-MASONIC ORDERS OF MALTA, IN THE UNITED STATES 



The Imperial Parent in Scotland 
promptly objected to this action by the 
governing body in America, and the Chap- 
ter General, at its convocation in 1881, 
accordingly declared its independence, and 
based its ritual upon the practices of an- 
tiquity. Through this reformation a schism 
arose which resulted in the formation, at 
Philadelphia, of a Grand Oommandery of 
Ancient and Illustrious Black Knights of 
Malta. The latter body, at its inception, 
was composed of or controlled by men of 
Orange proclivities, and, after some delay, 
was supported by the Imperial Parent, 
which was a violation of the charter granted 
the Chapter General of America, giving the 
latter jurisdiction over America. 

When introduced here, this Order of 
Malta presented twelve degrees, as follows: 

1. Knight of Malta. 7. White. 

2. Scarlet, 8. Green. 

3. Black. 9. Gold. 

4. Mark. 10. Knights of Green. 

5. Blue. 11. Priestly Pass. 

6. Blueman Master Builder. 12. Red Gross. 

From this, and by a reference to the 
extended sketch of the ancient Order of 
Knights of St. John, of Jerusalem, Rhodes, 
Malta, etc., it will be seen that the Imperial 
Parent, Grand Black Encampment of the 
Universe, situated at Glasgow, introduced 
into Canada and the United States nine 
more degrees or ceremonies than the an- 
cient Order of Malta possessed. After care- 
ful investigation by the original governing 
body in America, 1878, the latter believed 
itself still in possession of three ceremonies 
corresponding to the three ancient ones 
and denied that the ancient Order could at 
any time ever have conferred degrees with 
names like those conferred in Orange and 
Masonic bodies. The Priestly Pass was a 
modern representation of the old Order of 
Priesthood or Chaplains and the Black 
degree, the Order of Servants-at-Arms or 
Hospitalers, commemorating St. John the 
Baptist, the ancient patron of the Order; 
and the Order of Malta, of course, was the 



Knight of Justice. The Red Cross, which 
was retained, is declared to be that supposed 
to have been founded by the Emperor Con- 
stantine. (See Order of the Red Cross and 
Knights of Rome.) Accordingly, at the 
annual convocation of the governing body 
at Albany, in 1878, the following degrees 
were expunged : The Scarlet,* Mark,f 
Blue,f Blueman Master Builder, White, 
Green, f Gold, and Knight of the Green.* 

It should be explained that the degrees 
dropped by the Chapter General of America 
in 1878 had not always been conferred by 
the Imperial Parent. At least three of them 
were introduced after 1854, and nearly all 
have been shifted about with an occasional 
change in title. In an Imperial Parent 
" Guide Book " of 1854 we find the fol- 
lowing list of colors worn in the several 
degrees : 

1. Knights of Malta, a jet-black f-inch ribbon. 

2. Sir Knight Companion, narrow black ribbon. 
*3. Knight of the Bell, J-inch scarlet ribbon. 

4. Priestly Pass, narrow black ribbon, white edge. 
*5. Princely Order, narrow gold ribbon. 
J6. Star and Scimitar, narrow dark-blue ribbon. 
%7. Sublime Architect, narrow light-blue ribbon. 
J8. Knight of Israel, narrow white ribbon. 
J9. Sword and Covenant, narrow dark-green ribbon. 

In a certificate issued to Thomas Coveney 
Knowles, November 7, 1856, and 1858, the 
list is as follows: 



1. Knight of Malta. 


*6. Old Gold. 


*2. Scarlet. 


7. White. 


3. Black. 


8. Gold. 


J4. Royal Mark. 


9. Green. 


$5. Royal Blue. 





* Derived from the Orange Institution. 

f Masonic mixture. 

\ Masonic derivation. The ''Templar degrees," 
which have been conferred in England, Ireland, Scot- 
land, and Wales, and in colonial dependencies of the 
British Crown, under the title "Convent General of 
the United Religious and Military Orders of the Tem- 
ple of St. John of Jerusalem, Palestine, Rhodes and 
Malta," include The Ark, Black Mark, Link and 
Chain, Knight Templar, Knight of St. John of 
Jerusalem, Mediterranean Pass, Knight of Malta, 
Jordan Pass, Babylonish Pass, Knight of the Red 
Cross, High Priest, and Prussian Blue. 



ORDER KNIGHTS OF FRIENDSHIP 



277 



In a certificate issued to James Patten, 
November 28, 1863, the arrangement is 
given thus : 

1. Knight of Malta. 6. Old Blue. 

*2. Royal Scarlet. 7. Royal White. 

3. Royal Black. 8. Royal Green. 

f4. Royal Mark. *9. Royal Gold, 
fo. Royal Blue. 

The degrees worked in 1874 and retained 
by the Philadelphia Ancient and Illustrious 
Order of Malta, are as follows : 



1. Knight of Malta. 
*3. Royal Scarlet. 

3. Royal Black. 
|4. Royal Mark. 
fo. Royal Blue. 
f6. Royal Bloeman Mas 
ter Builder. 



*7. Royal Gold. 

8. Royal Green. 

9. Royal White. 

10. Knights of the 

Green. 

11. Priestly Pass. 

12. Red Cross. 



In the last group there are three degrees 
not certified to by the Imperial Parent in 
the certificate to Thomas C. Knowles, but, 
comparing with the foregoing, the Masonic 
student may identify the interpolated de- 
grees. 

The ritualistic system of the revived Eng- 
lish Language, that presided over to-day by 
the Prince of Wales, consists of twelve sec- 
tions or grades, as follows : 1. Turcopolier 
(now vacant); 2. The Lord Prior; 3. The 
Bailiff of Eagle (Aquila); 4. The Com- 
mander of Hanley Castle ; 5. Chevaliers, 
or Knights of Justice ; 6. Chaplains ; 7. 
Dames, Chevaliers, or Ladies of Justice ; 
8. Chevaliers of Grace ; 9. Esquires ; 10. 
Honorary Associates; 11. Donats, and 12. 
Serving Brethren. Excluding Nos. 1, 2, 3, 
and 4, which are official positions; No. 7, 
the Ladies' Class; No. 8, a class adjunctive 
to the Knights of Justice; No. 10, a modern 
invention; and No. 11, a sub-order of the 
ancient body, there are left the three 
ancient orders or grades of rank, Knights 
of Justice, Chaplains, and Serving Brethren, 
as used by the Chapter General of the 
United States. 

In conclusion, it is only necessary to add 

* Derived from the Orange Institution. 
f See note X on page 276. 



that the Grand Commandery of the An- 
cient and Illustrious Order, Knights of 
Malta, incorporated in its rite the square 
and compass, trowel, and other emblems 
even more distinctively Masonic; names of 
degrees suggesting the Masonic Mark Master 
and Master Mason; and in its College of 
Ancients, emblems, words, and mottoes of 
the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Masonic 
Rite. 

Order of Hospitalers. — See Knights 
of St. John of Jerusalem, Rhodes, Malta, etc. 

Order Knights of Friendship. — 
Founded by Mark G. Kerr, M.D., at Phila- 
delphia, Pa., in 1859. A benevolent, so- 
cial, and patriotic secret society, based on 
charity, friendship, and knowledge, which 
aims to inculcate good will among all man- 
kind and establish peace and friendship 
throughout the world. It differs from 
most modern fraternities in that it is not 
organized primarily for the payment of 
pecuniary benefits. The Order was a pro- 
ject of Dr. Kerr's as early as 1857, details 
of which he had well-nigh completed one 
year later. In January, 1859, Harmony 
Chamber, No. 1, was organized at Phila- 
delphia. Practically all the members went 
to the war at the outbreak of the rebellion, 
so that five or six years later the society 
had to be revived. Its growth was never 
rapid, the founder and his followers striv- 
ing to make active and sincere rather than 
many members. Only those men who be- 
lieve in a Supreme Being, " whose hu- 
manity prompts them to endeavor to al- 
leviate the suffering to cheer the weary 
and heavy laden, and to perform deeds of 
justice, friendship, and benevolence, " are 
invited to membership. The ritualistic 
work includes three degrees, the first, or 
Knight Junior ; the second, or Knight 
Bachelor, and the third, or Knight Errant 
degree. After a number of vicissitudes, the 
Order now finds itself growing slowly with 
a membership of about 4,000 in Pennsyl- 
vania and New Jersey. Its single insur- 
ance feature, one of recent creation, is a 



278 



ORDER OF SCOTTISH CLANS 



funeral benefit fund. The founder died 
June 19, 1883, and was buried at Norris- 
town, Pa, Dr. Kerr is reported to have 
been a Freemason of advanced degree and 
an Odd Fellow as well. The emblems of 
the Knights of Friendship include the 
triangle inscribed in a circle, a pot, the bow 
and arrows, and the crossed swords. 

Order of Scottish Clans — This is the 
largest of any of the organizations of 
Scotchmen and their descendants in Amer- 
ica. It was founded in St. Louis, Mo., 
November 30, 1878, by James McCash, 
Dougal Crawford, John Beattie, John 
Bruce, John D. Cruickshank, George Bain, 
Eobert R. Scott, William Morrison, Peter 
C. Peterkin, Neil Stewart, and others. 
Most of the founders were members of the 
Masonic fraternity and high in its councils. 
The organization of the Order of Scottish 
Clans was not the result of schism or dis- 
satisfaction with any existing organization. 
Previous to its founding there had been a 
number of other Scotch organizations in 
the United States and Canada, some of 
them holding games, and others formed to 
give entertainments to perpetuate the mem- 
ories of Scotland; but the founders, while 
recognizing the merits of these societies, 
felt that an organization possessing all the 
essential features of those in existence, but 
having in addition a proviso by which its 
members would receive a certain amount 
per week in the event of sickness and their 
beneficiaries a certain sum on the death of 
a member, would fill a long-felt want among 
their countrymen. From this the Order of 
Scottish Clans was formed. Its object (1) 
is to unite Scotsmen, sons of Scotsmen and 
their descendants, of good moral character 
and possessed of reputable means of sup- 
port, who are over eighteen and not exceed- 
ing fifty years of age ; (2) to provide and 
establish a bequeathment fund, from which, 
on the satisfactory evidence of the death 
of a member in good standing, who has 
complied with all its lawful requirements, 
a sum not exceeding $2,000, $1,000, $500, 



or $250 respectively, according to the class 
of deceased's membership, shall be paid to 
the beneficiary or beneficiaries ; (3) to estab- 
lish a fund for the relief of sick mem- 
bers, and (4) to cultivate fond recollec- 
tions of Scotland, its customs and amuse- 
ments. 

One of the recognized emblems of the 
Order is the Scotch thistle, with the motto, 
"Nemo Me Impune Lacessit." The seal 
of the Eoyal Clan contains as a centrepiece 
the cross of St. Andrew and in its quarters 
a thistle, with the motto already described, 
a shield containing a lion rampant, a heart 
representing the heart of King Robert the 
Bruce and a representation of the crown of 
the Bruce. The Order has ninety-six active 
Clans, eighty-nine of which are in theUnited 
States and seven in Canada. The member- 
ship, January 1, 1897, was over 4,000. It 
consists of a Royal Clan, which is the high- 
est governing body ; Grand Clans, which 
have jurisdiction only in the States or 
provinces in which they exist, and subor- 
dinate or local clans. The Royal Clan 
meets once in every two years. Women are ^ 
not admitted to membership. It has paid 
out more than $600,000 since its institu- 
tion to widows and orphans and other bene- 
ficiaries of deceased members. Sick benefits 
are controlled by the local clans, the average 
amount paid being $5 per week for thirteen 
weeks'' sickness in any one year. Members 
when sick receive the services of a physi- 
cian at the cost of the clans. In addition 
to the amount paid in bequeathment by the 
Royal Clan, there have been fully $130,000 
paid in sick benefits since the Order was 
founded. The organization is in a flourish- 
ing financial condition. It is looked upon 
by Scotchmen as one of the most reliable 
institutions of its kind in the country. The 
Royal Order of Scotland, founded on inci- 
dents in the life and times of Robert Bruce, 
to which Royal Arch Masons alone are 
eligible, is not known to have suggested the 
modern Order of Scottish Clans. The 
ritual of the Clans is based in part on the 



PYTHIAX SISTERHOOD 



279 



attempt of the Danes to surprise and capture 
the Castle Slanes and their subsequent defeat 
at Largs and commemorates the battle of Ban- 
nockburn. It was written by Eev. D. M. Wil- 
son, at that time a resident of Quincy, Mass. 

Order, Sons of St. George. — A fraternal 
secret society composed of Englishmen, their 
sons and grandsons, wherever born, those 
between eighteen and fifty years of age 
being eligible to beneficiary membership, 
entitled to sick and funeral benefits, and 
those more than fifty years old to honorary 
membership. It was instituted at Scranton, 
Pa., in 1871, and, as the writer is informed, 
had its origin in the banding together of 
Englishmen to resist the outrages perpetrated 
by the " Molly Maguires " in the anthracite 
coal regions of Pennsylvania from 1865 to 
1870. (See Molly Maguires.) The organiza- 
tion which thus came into existence after 
the close of the Civil War took permanent 
shape in 1871, as the Order, Sons of St. 
George and, since that date, has spread 
throughout the United States, the Dominion 
of Canada and the Hawaiian Islands, num- 
bering about 35,000 members, descendants 
of natives of " the mother land." The 
Order requires a belief in a Supreme Being, 
reverence for the Holy Bible, and urges on 
members loyalty to the land of their adop- 
tion. It has a system of sick benefits vary- 
ing according to the location of the Lodge, 
or inclinations of members, from 81 to 85 
per week. The annual dues are $6. Many 
Lodges also provide a physician and medicine 
for sick members. On the death of a member 
a funeral benefit is paid to his wife or heirs, 
in no case less than 830, and in some Lodges 
as high as 8100. There is also a funeral 
benefit at the death of a members wife, the 
amount of which is generally one-half that 
paid on the death of a member. Each 
Lodge maintains a benevolent fund for the 
assistance of brethren and of any worthy 
Englishmen in distress. 

Total benefits paid since 1871 amount to 
about 8500,000. The ritual, as might be 
inferred, is founded on the history and 



martyrdom of St. George, and the cere- 
monial of initiation invests the newly made 
brother with a language of words, signs, and 
grips which enables him to travel and make 
himself known as a Son of St. George wher- 
ever the Order is found. The emblem of the 
Society is the conventional representation 
of St. George and the dragon. 

There is an organization of women rela- 
tives of Sons of St. George under the title 
Daughters of St. George, but it has never 
been officially recognized by the Supreme 
Lodge of the Sons of St. George. The aims 
of the Daughters are to parallel the work 
of alleviating distress performed by their 
fathers, husbands, and sons. It is likely 
that their organization will some day be 
formally attached to the Sons of St. George. 

Order of the World. — Organized at 
Wheeling, W. Ya., March 7, 1893, and in- 
corporated under the laws of that State ; a 
secret fraternity designed to advance the 
social and moral condition of members, to 
aid them in securing employment, assist in 
caring for the sick and disabled, to bury the 
dead, and provide for widows and orphans 
of deceased members. It has no beneficiary 
features, but members of the Order are in- 
sured in the World Mutual Benefit Associa- 
tion. (See the latter.) The membership of 
the Order of the World is about 16,000. 

Oriental Order of Humility. — Said to 
be " in vogue in nearly all large cities, " al- 
though little trace is found of it in the news- 
papers. It is also said to have been called 
the Oriental Haymakers when " conferred 
upon the King of Persia." The most 
striking information concerning it is that 
the penalty for disobedience at the sessions 
is to be "executed at once,''' as "the deco- 
rum of meetings must be enforced." 

Pythian Sisterhood. — Encouraged by 
her husband, a member of the Knights of 
Pythias, Mrs. Alva A. Young wrote the 
ritual of the Pythian Sisterhood, and, as 
Mrs. Young states, was granted permission 
by the Grand Lodge of the Knights of 
Pythias at Cincinnati, O., in 1888, to use 



280 



RATHBONE SISTERS OF THE WORLD 



the titles of the officers in Pythian bodies 
in her projected organization. At the same 
session of the Supreme Lodge the Hill 
ritual (see Knights of Pythias) was pre- 
sented for the fourth time, and the Su- 
preme representatives of Indiana and New 
Hampshire are said to have agreed "to 
recommend the Hill ritual and partially rec- 
ognize the (Pythian) Sisterhood." But the 
organization preferred its own ritual, and 
the first Assembly of the Pythian Sisterhood 
was organized at Concord, N. H., February 
22, 1888, by Mrs. Young and ten other 
women, relatives of Knights of Pythias, the 
titles of the various officials being identical 
with those in use by the Knights of Pythias. 
Mrs. Young was chosen Chancellor Com- 
mander. Assemblies were next instituted 
at Manchester, Nashua, Farmington, and 
Franklin Falls, N. H., by which a Grand 
Assembly was established for New Hamp- 
shire, June 6, 1888, with the founder of 
the Sisterhood as Grand Chancellor. The 
organization soon found its way into Con- 
necticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, 
Maine, New York, New Jersey, and Ohio, 
and within two years Grand Assemblies 
were instituted in Massachusetts, Maine, 
Ohio, New York, and New Jersey, repre- 
sentatives from which instituted the Su- 
preme Assembly in New York city, April 
28, 1890, with Mrs. Young as Supreme 
Chancellor. The Sisterhood has since 
spread to West Virginia, Iowa, Nebraska, 
Illinois, and Missouri, and is declared to be 
in a flourishing condition. Women relatives 
of Knights of Pythias, sixteen or more years 
of age, are eligible to membership. The 
objects of the society are to give moral and 
material aid to members, educate them 
socially and intellectually and assist them 
in sickness and distress. Its motto is 
" Friendship, Charity, Benevolence, and 
Love." It teaches toleration in religion and 
obedience to law. Its ritual is declared to in- 
spire purity of thought, peace, and good will. 
Ratlibone Sisters of the World. — 
This sisterhood announces that the Supreme 



Lodge of the Knights of Pythias, at Cin- 
cinnati, in 1888, "granted permission to 
the wives, mothers, sisters, widows, and 
daughters of Knights of Pythias to form a 
women's organization or secret sisterhood, 
and recommended the ritual " which had 
been prepared, as elsewhere explained by 
Past Chancellor J. A. Hill of Indiana. It 
was expressly understood that in granting 
this permission the Supreme Lodge was not 
to be responsible for any of the transactions 
of the women's organization, financially or 
otherwise. Under this the first Temple of 
Pythian Sisters of the World was instituted 
at Warsaw, Ind., October 23, 1888, by J. H. 
Hill, "Founder of the Order," a little more 
than eight months after Mrs. Alva A. 
Young and associate women relatives of 
Knights of Pythias instituted the first As- 
sembly of the Pythian Sisterhood. Other 
Temples were soon instituted in Indiana, 
Ohio, Illinois, and Missouri. There are now 
Temples in nearly all the States and terri- 
tories, and in Canada, with a total mem- 
bership of about 20,000 Sisters and 15,000 
Knights, about one-third of the total mem- 
bership being in Indiana, Ohio, Kansas, 
Iowa, and Illinois. Grand Temples exist 
in fifteen States, representatives from which 
and Past Supreme officers constitute the 
Supreme Temple, which has charge of Tem- 
ples in States, territories, and Provinces 
where no Grand Temple exists and exercise 
supreme legislative authority. The Su- 
preme Temple was instituted October 10, 
1889, when the society was less than one 
year old, Mrs. I. M. Weaver of Indiana 
being the first Supreme Chief, from which 
it will be inferred this Pythian women's 
order did not employ the titles of officers 
used in lodges of Knights of Pythias. Less 
than three years after it was established, the 
founder, J. A. Hill, died, April 17, 1892, at 
Green castle, Ind. 

In 1894 the Pythian Sisters found them- 
selves in danger of losing their honorary 
members (men) inasmuch as the Supreme 
Lodge of Knights of Pythias had, without 



ROYAL ORDER OF FORESTERS 



281 



particular reference to the Pythian Sisters, 
declined to permit Knights of Pythias to be- 
come or remain members of any organization 
using the word Pythian, not under the con- 
trol of the Supreme Lodge. Much as they 
regretted to change the name, there was no 
alternative and the Pythian Sisters became 
the Rathbone Sisters of the World. This 
auxiliary but unofficial branch of Pythianism 
is organized similarly to the Daughters of 
Rebekah, which is a branch of Odd Fellow- 
ship, while the Pythian Sisterhood, estab- 
lished at Concord, N. H., February 22, 
1888, is unique in that it recruits its mem- 
bership from among women relatives of a 
men's secret society, but does not permit 
members of the latter to join. (See Knights 
of Pythias.) 

Royal Black Association, Knights of 
Malta. — See Non-Masonic Orders of Malta 
in the United States. 

Royal Order of Foresters. — The date 
of the formation of the (English) Royal 
Foresters, the mother of modern beneficiary 
societies of Foresters, is placed at 1790. 
There is no evidence th^t the society of 
Royal Foresters descended from the nu- 
merous preexisting, but extinct, societies 
of foresters which had been instituted 
throughout England almost "from time 
immemorial. " The latter had been either 
convivial clubs or foresters, in fact. The 
Royal Foresters, though still largely con- 
vivial in its tendencies, had evidently pat- 
terned after the United or Loyal Order of 
Odd Fellows, as that society was variously 
known at the close of the last century, by 
providing for fixed contributions for the 
relief of sick and needy members. English 
Freemasons also organized their charities 
more than a century ago on a basis of fixed 
mutual assessments, but for a brief period 
only. Late in the eighteenth century it 
became difficult for all British secret 
affiliated societies, except the Freemasons, 
to maintain an existence, because of fears 
of conspiracy against the government. The 
corresponding societies act declared every 



society which prescribed as a requirement 
of membership a test or oath, etc., not 
authorized by law, and every society com- 
posed of branches or divisions, to be "un- 
lawful combinations or confederacies.-" 
The seditious meetings act declared cer- 
tain meetings of more than fifty persons 
unlawful, if held without notice. Several 
penalties could be imposed under both acts. 
The society of Freemasons was excepted 
from the operation of both acts. It is ex- 
plained that so many prominent English- 
men had been and were Freemasons that 
the legislators and others well understood 
the remoteness of anything like a political 
conspiracy being hatched or fostered in 
British Masonic Lodges. From 1780 to 
1832 political disturbances in the United 
Kingdom resulted in friction between the 
government and the masses of the people. 
Almost every combination of the latter, 
particularly if at all secret in character, 
seemed to suggest treason. Au article in 
the Leeds "Express," 1879 or 1880, says 
that in only two instances was the loyalty 
of members of any of these societies ever 
impugned, and mentions two now extinct 
orders of Odd Fellows. The Grand United, 
Imperial, and the Ancient Independent, 
and the present Nottingham Ancient Im- 
perial Order of Odd Fellows " kept no 
documents in those troublous times, in 
order that nothing could be used against 
any of the members in case of arrest." 

Lodges of the Loyal Order of Orange- 
men in some instances late in the closing 
decade of the last century, met in Ma- 
sonic lodge rooms after Masonic lodges 
had closed, under cover of "borrowed Ma- 
sonic charters," many Freemasons, presum- 
ably, having been members of both so- 
cieties. Some of the results of this method 
of promoting Orange gatherings in spite of 
the authorities are referred to elsewhere.* 

* See Loyal Order of Orangemen, Knights of 
St. John and Malta, the Ancient and Illustrious 
Order of Knights of Malta, and Non-Masonic 
Orders of Malta. 



282 



ROYAL SHEPHERDS 



With a state of affairs in England from 
1790 to 1825 well calculated to foster dis- 
trust, suspicion, and antagonism between 
the classes and the masses, the reason is 
plain why modern Royal Foresters main- 
tained a very precarious existence during 
that period. It was not until 1825-30 that 
the dominance of the convivial side in 
beneficiary secret societies began to dis- 
appear, although the fight against it was 
conspicuous from 1800 to 1830, not only 
among Freemasons and Odd Fellows, but 
in the Eoyal Foresters. Foresters Court 
No. 1, at Leeds, is said to have had only 
eighty members in 1800. By 1813, accord- 
ing to one chronicler, only 207 persons had 
joined the Royal Foresters since 1790. It 
was at the former date that a dispensation 
was granted Court No. 2 at Knaresborough, 
since which time the extension and growth 
of the society at large are matters of record. 
By 1815 four courts had been opened, but 
Court No. 1 had the power and claimed 
the authority, and therefore proceeded to 
organize its then past and present Chief 
Rangers into a Supreme Court, which was 
to meet quarterly. T. B. Lister was elected 
Most Worthy Supreme Chief Ranger. It 
is not clear when the Forestic ceremonies 
of initiation were changed so as to har- 
monize with the traditions of ancient for- 
estry, those clinging to Robin Hood. The 
statement has been made that earlier For- 
estic ceremonies of initiation were intended 
to be " quite terrifying," being "modelled 
after those of the Freemasons and Odd 
Fellows." As a ritual was adopted in 
January, 1816, it is probable that Robin 
Hood, Little John, Friar Tuck, and the rest 
were then emphasized more than they had 
been. The monopoly of modern Forestry 
by the Royal Foresters continued from 
1813 or 1815, when the Supreme Court 
was formed, until 1834. During this pe- 
riod rapid progress was made, 358 courts 
being opened, 88 in 1833 alone, one — Court 
Good Speed, No. 201 — at Philadelphia, in 
1832, the first in the United States. Prior 



to 1834 discontent had shown itself at the 
"despotic power" and privileges granted 
the principal officer of the Order in the 
general laws, and at the retention of the 
sole governing power and authority" over 
the whole Order forever" by Court No. 1. 
This ripened into revolution, and at a con- 
vention at Rochdale, England, August 4, 
5, and 6, 1834, the first schism in the 
Order resulted in the formation of the An- 
cient Order of Foresters. Within a few 
years nearly all the Courts of Royal For- 
esters had joined the new Order. (See 
Ancient Order of Foresters, and Foresters of 
America. ) 

Royal Shepherds. — Earlier title of the 
(English) Ancient Order of Shepherds, 
now a branch of the Foresters of America. 
(See the latter.) 

Sons and Daughters of Israel.— 
Founded at Nashville, in 1887, to pay from 
$2 to $5 weekly sick benefits and 130 funeral 
benefits. Not known to exist to-day. 

Sons of Adam. — Organized at Parsons, 
Kan., in the summer of 1879, by prominent 
business and professional men of that city, 
leaders among whom were members of the 
Masonic fraternity. A reference to the 
account of the earlier and more playful 
portion of the career of the Ku Klux Klan 
and to the sketch of the Sons of Malta will 
fairly indicate its raison d'etre. It had a 
brief but eventful career. 

Sons of Hermann (Der Orden der Her- 
mann's Soehne). — Founded in New York 
city by Dr. Philip Merkel, George Heiner, 
John Blatz, A. Auer, R. Schivendel, W. 
Kohler, and Philip Hermann, to foster 
German customs and the spread of benevo- 
lence among Germans in the United States. 
The ancient Teuton warrior Hermann 
was chosen as a type of German manhood, 
and legends of the society were made to 
conform with the traditions respecting Her- 
mann and his band of followers. An ac- 
count of the society, published* in 189G, 

* St. Paul Morning Call. 



SONS OF HERMANN 



283 



credits the original organization, of what 
afterwards became the Sons of Hermann, 
to the resentment of German-Americans 
at attacks on themselves and others of 
foreign descent by those who, between 
1835 and 1855, drew the political issues of 
the day along race and religious lines and 
finally became united in the Know Noth- 
ing Party, in 1852. (See Know Nothing 
Party and the Order United American 
Mechanics.) The account referred to con- 
tinues : " These enemies of all that was 
Teutonic had exceeded the bounds of all 
honor and respect, inasmuch as they even 
went so far as to hinder the funeral cortege 
of a German from proceeding on its solemn 
and peaceful way, and to insult those who 
accorded the remains the last escort." This 
resulted in public meetings of Germans, 
at which vigorous protests were uttered. 
At one of the German Sections of these 
gatherings the name for the new society 
suggested itself when one of the speakers 
remarked : " We again need a Hermann 
under whose mighty guidance we may be 
enabled to trample upon our enemies/' The 
new fraternity recognizes that ignorance 
and vice are the worst enemies of humanity, 
and follows in the footsteps of the Freema- 
sons, Odd Fellows, Druids, Foresters and 
others in their work of relieving the needy 
and sick among their members, burying their 
dead, and caring for widows and orphans. 

Grand ex-President H. W. Kastor, St. 
Louis, has explained that the Order ex- 
ists only on American soil, " some of its 
more important features being such as to 
exclude it from any country but a repub- 
lic." It confers no degrees — only member- 
ship in which the high and lowly are on the 
same level, " as followers of the deliverer of 
the old Teuton tribes." It was not until 
1848, eight years after it was founded, after 
five sections had been formed at New York, 
that it began to spread, when a section was 
established at Milwaukee. In that year, 
also, resolutions were adopted substantially 
as follows : 



. All men are equal ; all are imbued with one de- 
sire, namely, to reach that goal which betters bodily 
and spiritual existence. It is the duty of every man 
to provide not only for himself, but also to promote 
the welfare of his fellow being, because in the con- 
summate happiness of all every one must have an 
-equal share. In order that this grand and worthy 
work may be duly furthered, shall we grasp one 
another with a brotherly hand and create this band 
of friendship ? As a body we shall sow, and as a 
body shall expect a fruitful crop. We shall ad- 
vance German customs, German spirit, and German 
art ; we shall strive to cooperate with one another, 
lift up and support our brethren. We, as a body, 
shall surround one and the one shall encircle us 
all. This is to be our fundamental platform. AVe 
shall look upon ourselves as one family, and keep 
sacred the bonds of a family. 

The symbolic colors of the Order are 
black, red, and gold, which are thus ex- 
plained in Mr. Kastor's sketch of the 
society : " Together, the colors are the 
symbol of German unity. Black typifies 
darkness, the outgrowth of ignorance, 
prejudice, and indifference. Above this 
the Order places the red, which signifies 
light and enlightenment spread by German 
culture and German spirit. The gold is 
emblematic of true freedom, which man 
arrives at through knowledge and labor.'' * 
It was not until October 6, 1852, at Chi- 
cago, practically the period at which the 
great Know Nothing Party took its rise, 
that the eighth Section or lodge of the 
Order was established. The first session 
of the National Grand Lodge of Sons of 
Hermann, which meets every four years, 
was held at Eochester, N. Y., in 1857. In 
1896 there was a total membership of 90,000, 
with Grand Lodges in California, Connecti- 
cut, Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Massachu- 
setts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New 
York, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, 
Texas, and Washington. There is also a 
large membership scattered through fifteen 
other States. 

Women relatives of members of the Order 
have been grouped in Lodges of Daughters 

* St. Louis Globe Democrat, in 1896. 



284 



SONS OF IDLE REST 



of Hermann, as a social and beneficiary, 
auxiliary, in the same manner that so many 
members of other fraternal orders interest 
their mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters, 
without making them members of identi- 
cally the same Lodges. 

Sons of Idle Rest. — Organized four or 
five years ago by prominent members of 
the Benevolent and Protective Order of 
Elks. None but Elks are eligible. Its 
objects are largely recreative and for the 
elaboration of " side " degree ceremonial, 
but its place seems more than likely to be 
taken by the rapidly growing dramatic 
Order of Knights of Khorassen. (See the 
latter. ) 

Sons of Malta. — Organized in the South 
before the Civil War, at a time when the 
country had been overrun by scores of pa- 
triotic, political and other secret societies, 
prior to, during, and after the rise and fall 
of the Know Nothing Party, as an ironical 
protest against doing the business of the 
country and attending to the every-day af- 
fairs of life by means of secret societies. 
The Sons of Malta soon became conspicuous 
at New Orleans, whence it was taken to 
Boston by E. L. Davenport and John 
Brougham. It afterwards spread to many 
other of the larger cities of the country. 
It was the first secret society in the United 
States to exhaust ingenuity and stop at no 
expense in initiating candidates in a man- 
ner to insure their never forgetting it. In 
fact, that was all there was to it, an elab- 
orate scheme to excite the interest and 
curiosity of reputable citizens, to get them 
to join, whereupon they would find the 
initiation ceremony something well calcu- 
lated to impress the novitiate. In some 
instances, after being put through outra- 
geous cross-examinations as to their private, 
business, or other affairs, and a tantalizing, 
often terrifying circum ambulation, candi- 
dates would be placed in a large basket and 
hauled up to the ceiling to rest there while 
the remaining members partook of an elab- 
orate banquet beneath. 



The shooting- the-chute feature of initia- 
tion was seldom omitted, and one Council at 
Boston constructed a winding affair of that 
nature which started the neophytes on the 
third floor and landed them in the basement. 
Life and limb were frequently endangered, 
and hundreds of men were induced to join 
who never went back again ; while thou- 
sands of others returned to "get even" by 
helping to put the next fellow "through." 
It should be added that at some of the 
larger cities Councils frequently had con- 
siderable money on hand after initiating a 
class of candidates, and in such instances 
made liberal donations to worthy charities. 
When the available material at a given city 
or town was exhausted, Councils of the Sons 
of Malta naturally became dormant and ulti- 
mately died out. Existing only to initiate, 
they became extinct w r hen candidates were 
scarce. Hundreds of elderly business men 
to-day are able to recall how, forty-odd 
years ago, they joined the Sons of Malta, 
and, if they feel disposed, can describe the 
ingeniously humorous yet often disgrace- 
ful antics they were compelled to indulge 
in. The society did not survive the Civil 
War. 

" S. P. K."— The title of a now unknown 
secret society the ritual of which was written 
by the founder of the Knights of Pythias. 
(See the latter.) 

The Orientals. — A detached degree or 
ceremonial formerly conferred on Knights 
of Pythias. (See Ancient Order of Sanhe- 
drims.) 

United Ancient Order of Druids. — 
In 1781 thirty-six years after Odd Fellows 
clubs or lodges made their appearance in 
England, the modern Ancient Order of 
Druids was founded at London. It paral- 
leled the United or Loyal Order of Odd 
Fellows, as the latter was variously called, 
rather than the Freemasons, in that its 
avowed purpose was to relieve sickness and 
distress among its members by means of 
stated contributions. It promptly took 
on the character of a secret order founded 



UNITED ANCIENT ORDER OF DRUIDS 



285 



for fraternal and benevolent purposes, al- 
though, in the earlier portion of its career 
its meetings were characterized, as were 
meetings of Freemasons and Odd Fellows 
of that period, by more of the convivial in 
the way of entertainment than they have 
been for the past seventy or eighty years. 
Like the Odd Fellows and Foresters, too, 
the latter dating from about 1790, the 
Druids suffered from the operation of Eng- 
lish laws late in the last and early in the 
present century, which aimed to repress 
secret societies, other than the Freemasons, 
on the supposition that such organizations 
covered seditious or treasonable designs, or 
that they might furnish opportunities for 
the same.* In view of what is known of 
the retarded growth of English Odd Fellow- 
ship and of the (English) Ancient Order 
of Foresters late in the last century and early 
in this one, it is unlikely that the Ancient 
Order of Druids was able to increase in 
membership materially during the period 
referred to. The Ancient Order of Fores- 
ters is conspicuous in that it was the first 
of the great benevolent assessment secret 
orders to found its ritual and ceremonies on 
history and tradition belonging exclusively 
to the country of its birth, but more particu- 
larly in that such legends and history were 
of a character which recommended them 
strongly to the sympathies of the masses as 
distinguished from the classes — to wit : the 
stories of Eobin Hood and his merrie men. 
In the United States a parallel is found in 
the Improved Order of Red Men, the rites 
and ceremonies of which are based on the 
history, manners and customs of the Ameri- 
can Indians. The Ancient Order of Druids, 
while it preceded the Foresters by nearly 
a decade, and while utilizing Druidic history 
and tradition for its spectacular background, 
could hardly be said to have offered to 
novitiates a legend so peculiarly attractive 
as that of the Foresters a few years later, 

* See Odd. Fellowship, Foresters of America, 
Ancient Order of Foresters, and Loyal Orange 
Institution. 



from the fact that while Druidism was at one 
time almost exclusively British, it had been 
traced across the continent to the far East. 
It would have been surprising, however, if 
the earlier fabricators of ceremonials for 
-secret societies had not stumbled upon and 
promptly adopted the wealth of material 
offered in the storehouse of Druidic lore. 
The Freemasons had, before the close of 
the last century, ranged the whole course 
of sacred history and the Odd Fellows fol- 
lowed them. Something essentially differ- 
ent, yet pointing to virtue and morality, was 
sure to be wanted, and the modern Druids 
found it in accounts of the mystical rites 
and the teachings of the Druidic priest- 
hood. 

In ancient Gaul the Druids were the re- 
ligious guides of the people, the chief ex- 
pounders and guardians of the law, and 
had the power to inflict penalties, the most 
feared being that of excommunication. As 
membership in the Druidic priesthood was 
not hereditary, and as it carried with it 
exemption from military duty and the 
payment of taxes, it was the object of the 
ambition of young men, notwithstanding 
the novice had to go through a course of 
twenty years' training. Druidism taught 
the immortality and the transmigration of 
the soul ; but whether it received the lat- 
ter doctrine from Pythagoras, whether Py- 
thagoras received it from the Druids, or 
whether they obtained it from a common 
source, investigators are not agreed. In 
England it was the custom to hold a gen- 
eral Druidic assembly once a year, at which 
human sacrifices were a feature, in which, 
according to the " Encyclopaedia Britan- 
nica," criminals were generally utilized. 
The chief deity was the Mercury of the 
Romans, but, as already indicated, there 
was some connection between the Druidic 
philosophy and that of Pythagoras. The 
mistletoe was held in the highest venera- 
tion and groves of oak were the chosen 
retreats. Whatever grew on the oak was a 
gift from Heaven, and some have inferred 



286 



UNITED ANCIENT ORDER OF DRUIDS 



that the mistletoe clinging about the oak 
represented man in his best endeavors to 
attain the heights of virtue and morality 
by his adherence to divine precepts. There 
was, of course, much of what has been 
classified as magic and sorcery in Druidic 
rites. Snakes' eggs constituted a most 
potent charm, and Irish and Scotch Druids 
in particular were believed to be sorcerers, 
owing to which followers of Christianity 
early felt obliged to claim supernatural 
powers in order to counteract the influence 
of the Druids. The circle was the symbol 
of the Supreme Being, and the serpent of 
the Divine Son. They were expert in me- 
chanics, as is shown by the remarkable 
architectural remains of their temples in 
England and Wales, in Asia and elsewhere. 
The cromlechs and dolmens still in exist- 
ence retain the circular form with which 
they surrounded the ancient groves which 
formed the scene of their strange rites and 
ceremonies. As may be inferred, the 
Druids were intellectually the dominant 
class of their time. They were formed into 
unions in accordance with the precepts of 
Pythagoras, and their priesthood is said to 
have rivalled later hierarchies in their 
pomp of ritual and learning and their in- 
fluence over their countrymen. Some of 
those who have made a study of the subject 
think the decline of ancient Druidism was 
owing to the lack of charity and love in 
its teachings, the features which were sup- 
plied by Christianity; but they claim for 
it the credit of having preserved in western 
Europe the idea of the unity of God. Christ- 
mas, Epiphany, and Hallowe'en are de- 
clared to have been originally Druidic 
holidays. 

Altars used by the Druids of to-day are 
a representation of the Druidic cromlech 
or dolmen, and consist either of three 
stones, one resting upon the other two, or 
one large stone with an opening through it. 
The Constantine dolmen, in Cornwall, 
England, weighs 750 tons. There is a 
single rock at Bombay, in the East Indies, 



which is held in great veneration by the 
natives, the "rock of purification/' A 
passage through it is considered to absolve 
from all sin the person passing. In many 
parts of Erance, Germany, and Great Brit- 
ain ruins of Druidic temples and sacrificial 
altars may still be found. The Druids 
attained their greatest influence in Britain 
during the last century before Christ, and 
it continued for a half century thereafter. 
During the reign of Nero, about 60 a.d., 
the Britons, headed by Queen Boadicea, x 
rebelled against the Eoman authority. 
General Suetonius Paulinus defeated the 
Britons and visited summary punishment 
upon the Druids, whom he believed had 
incited the revolt. The Druids retired to 
the Island of Mona (Anglesea), off the coast 
of Wales. Seventeen years after, Agricola, 
Eoman Governor of Britain, became in- 
censed at the action of the Druids in slay- 
ing a soldier sent to spy out their secrets, 
conquered the island, cut down the sacred 
groves and destroyed their temples. Those 
of the Druids who escaped withdrew to the 
Island of Iona. Their people were con- 
verted to Christianity four centuries later. 

Upon the precepts and traditions of 
ancient Druidism is founded the fraternal 
secret society known as the United An- 
cient Order of Druids. Its forms of initia- 
tion and of conferring degrees are declared 
to be recitals and reminders of the integ- 
rity, simplicity, and morality of the ancient 
Druids. The immediate successors of the 
Ancient Order of Druids, like the earlier 
Odd Fellows and Foresters, made vigorous 
claims as to the antiquity of their organiza- 
tion, even taking it back in regular line to 
the time of Noah. As the ancient Druidic 
priesthood ranges back through conti- 
nental Europe to Asia Minor, it was a 
simple matter to trace the Druids from 
Gomer, Magog, Madia, Javan, Tubal, Me- 
shech, and Tiras, after Japhet, across 
Europe, to the United Kingdom, leaving it 
to the imagination of the novitiate to find 
the connecting link between the victims of 



UNITED ANCIENT ORDER OF DRUIDS 



287 



the Roman conquerors of Britain and the 
Ancient Order of Druids of 1781. But in 
late years this theory has been abandoned. 
The Ancient Order of Druids ultimately 
resolved itself into both the Ancient Order 
and the Loyal Order, as did the United 
Order of Odd Fellows into the United 
Order and afterward into the Loyal. Order, 
during the troublous period of from 1780 
to 1820. From the first Druidic order 
arose the United Ancient Order, and from 
that, in 1858, a faction seceded, and called 
itself the Order of Druids. The ceremonial 
of the United Ancient Order is far more 
elaborate than that of the youngest branch, 
and it is in the older branch that the 
American United Ancient Order finds its 
origin, leaving the three remaining Orders 
of Druids, the Ancient, the Loyal, and the 
Order of Druids, in England. In the United 
States the United Ancient Order, as may 
be inferred, is a moral, social, and bene- 
ficiary assessment secret society. It exists in 
twenty-three States of the Union, and is 
affiliated with the Order in England, Ire- 
land, and Scotland, in the British Colonies, 
in Australia, and Germany. It seeks to 
unite men, irrespective of nation, tongue, or 
creed, for mutual protection and improve- 
ment ; to assist socially and materially, by 
counsel, lessons and by encouragement in 
business, to foster among its members the 
spirit of fraternity and good fellowship ; 
also, by a system of dues and benefits, to 
provide for the relief of the sick and desti- 
tute, the burial of the dead, and the pro- 
tection of the widows and orphans of its 
deceased members. Applicants for mem- 
bership must be men of the age of eighteen 
years and upwards, of sound bodily health 
and good moral character. 

The name Grove is used by this Order in 
the same sense as lodge in others, and 
signifies a subordinate body, chartered by 
a Grand Grove, corresponding to a Grand 
Lodge. Its form of government closely re- 
sembles that of various Orders of Odd Fel- 
lows and of Foresters, being vested in the 



Supreme Grove of the United States, State 
Grand Groves, and subordinate Groves. 
The Supreme Grove of the United States is 
the head of the Order, in full union with 
the Order in England, Australia, and Ger- 
many, " with full power to make laws for 
the government of itself and State Grand 
and subordinate Groves." 

Grand Groves have charge of the Order 
within their respective jurisdictions, subject 
to the laws of the Supreme Grove, and are 
composed of representatives elected by the 
subordinate Groves of a State. The title No- 
ble Grand Arch, referring to the presiding 
officer of a Grand Grove, suggests the in- 
fluence of Odd Fellowship in the building 
up of Druid ism, the Noble Grand being the 
chief officer in a Lodge of Odd Fellows, and 
the fact that permission may be granted to 
confer the three degrees and to "make 
Druids at sight " in order to facilitate the 
formation of Groves where there are no 
members of the Order, points to Freemasons 
having lent a hand at laying the foundations 
of modern Druid ism. 

To promote the prosperity of the Order 
and cultivate the perfection of its members, 
Druidic Chapters have been organized. All 
members of the Order in good standing who 
have attained the third degree are eligible, 
and in order to provide women relatives 
an opportunity to participate in the work of 
benevolence, Circles have been established 
to which Druids in good standing and all 
acceptable women eighteen years of age are 
eligible. The Order of Druids specifically 
provides for the living while sick and af- 
flicted, by paying benefits of not less than 
three dollars per week. It protects a mem- 
ber and his family from want while he is 
unable to provide for himself or them. It 
cares for the widow and orphans of a de- 
ceased member, and it provides a funeral 
benefit. The Order takes advanced ground 
in that it embodies the equalization feature 
in handling its sick and funeral benefits. By 
this it spreads its assessments or dues from 
districts where in excess of requirements 



288 



UNITED BROTHERS OF FRIENDSHIP AND SISTERS OF THE MYSTERIOUS TEN 



over territory where the paucity of mem- 
bership leaves the payments under an aver- 
age, or not up to requirements. 

The United Ancient Order was planted in 
the United States at New York city in 1834, 
but the first American Grove did not live 
long. It was shortly after the time when the 
first Court of Foresters was instituted in 
the United States, at Philadelphia, which 
also died young. This was the period in 
which there was a noteworthy revival in 
interest in Freemasonry and Odd Fellowship 
following the depression in secret society 
circles after the an ti -Masonic agitation of 
1827-32, In 1839 George Washington 
Lodge, No. 1, of Druids, was instituted at 
New York city, and from that time the 
United Ancient Order of Druids in the 
United States grew, spreading first to the 
neighboring State of New Jersey, and then 
to Virginia. In 1834 a governing body 
was formed holding allegiance to the Eng- 
lish Grand Grove, called the Grand Board 
of Directors of the United Ancient Order 
of Druids of the United States of America. 
This afterwards became the Supreme Grove 
of the United States. Among the Ameri- 
can founders in 1839, the names of William 
H. Youngs, Charles Haywood, J. Churchill 
and James Auger are prominent. Thomas 
Wildey, the founder of Odd Fellowship in 
the United States, joined the United An- 
cient Order of Druids in April, 1844. The 
approximate totals of membership of the 
United Ancient Order in 1896 were as fol- 
lows : In the United States, 17,000 ; Great 
Britain, 66,000 ; Australia, 18,000, and in 
Germany, 2,000, making the grand total 
103,000. 

Some of the State jurisdictions pay en- 
dowment benefits based on mutual assess- 
ments. The Order has been managed con- 
servatively, and, while not recording the 
rapid growth of other similar societies, it 
has increased in numbers and prosperity. 

United Brothers of Friendship and 
Sisters of the Mysterious Ten. — Organ- 
ized August 1, 1861, by Marshall W. Taylor, 



William N. Hazleton, Wallace Jones, W. H. 
Lawson, Benjamin Carter, Charles Coates, 
W. T. Lewis, and Charles B. Morgan, col- 
ored men, free and slave, nearly all under 
age, at Louisville, Ky., as a benevolent 
association, to care for the sick, bury the 
dead, etc. Nearly all were pupils in day 
or night schools, and, under the advice of 
their teacher, W. H. Gibson, they reorgan- 
ized the society in 1868. In 1871 the society 
having been gradually extended through- 
out Kentucky, a Grand Lodge was formed, 
and in 1875, membership having spread to 
neighboring States, a National Grand Lodge 
was organized. W. H. Gibson, the first 
State Grand Master, served five years. He 
was also National Grand Master, and rilled 
that office for four years, distinguishing 
his incumbency by establishing Lodges of 
United Brothers of Friendship, as the so- 
ciety was then called, from the lakes to 
the gulf. 

Temples of Sisters of the Mysterious Ten, 
the women's auxiliary, were established by 
the National Grand Lodge at Louisville, in 
1878, having been authorized two years be- 
fore. Prior thereto there had been un- 
authorized auxiliary bodies of women, 
called Sisters of Friendship. The United 
Brothers numbered about 4,000 in 1878, in 
which year, besides preparing a ritual and 
degree work for use in Temples of Sisters of 
the Mysterious Ten, they organized a branch 
of the order known as the Knights of 
Friendship, based on the story of David and 
Jonathan. In 1892 the United Brothers 
of Friendship numbered 100,000 members 
in nineteen States and two territories. 
There were 30,000 members in Kentucky; 
a very large proportion in Missouri, Texas, 
and Arkansas ; many in Ohio, Louisiana, 
Iowa, Alabama, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, 
Mississijypi, West Virginia and Virginia, 
and a fair representation in New York, 
Michigan, Kansas, Colorado, Washington, 
New Jersey, District of Columbia, Canada, 
Africa, and the West Indies. 

The membership in 1897 was practically 



WOODCHOPPERS' ASSOCIATION 



289 



unchanged. The rules of the organization 
do not prohibit white people from join- 
ing it, and, as a matter of fact, sev- 
eral are said to have become members. 
With the growth of modern beneficiary 
secret societies, this order has incorporated 
among its features the payment of death, 
sick, and disability benefits. It seems 
likely that the United Brothers did not con- 
stitute a regular secret society when first 
organized, and there is external evidence 
that members of the Grand United Order 
of Odd Fellows (which in the United States 
is composed of negro men and women) 



had something to do with giving life and 
color to this organization. 

Woodchoppers' Association. — A social 
beneficiary organization, founded in Phila- 
delphia, Pa., April 22, 1890, by Harry 
Alvin and others of Court Philadelphia, 
Foresters of America. A governing body 
was founded on March 22, 1892. The 
Association has seventy branches, known 
as Cabins, and its total membership is about 
3,500. The organization is not formed to 
pay sick or death benefits, but each Cabin 
has the option of doing so. Only Foresters 
of America are eligible to membership. 




CHART SHOWING RELATIVE SIZE OF TWENTY-FOUR SECRET SOCIETIES IN THE 
UNITED STATES, BASED ON REPORTS RECEIVED DURING 1897. 



290 



PATRIOTIC ORDERS 



VII 



THE PATRIOTIC AND POLITICAL OEDEES 



Patriotic Orders, The. — This is the 
general term by which reference is made 
to patriotic and political American secret 
orders or societies. Nativism, opposition 
to the alleged designs of the Roman Cath- 
olic hierarchy on the public school system 
in the United States, " America for Amer- 
icans/^ and loyalty to country are, or have 
been, characteristics of most of them. 
A few, however, have incorporated bene- 
ficiary features, such as death, accident, 
sick and funeral benefits. Among the 
older are the Order of United American 
Mechanics, Philadelphia, 1845; Patriotic 
Order, Sons of America, Philadelphia, 
1846 ; American Protestant Association, 
Pittsburg, 1849; Brotherhood of the Union, 
Philadelphia, 1850, and the Junior Order, 
United American Mechanics, Philadelphia, 
1853. The oldest in this class — that asso- 
ciated with the ' ' native American " po- 
litical struggle about the middle of the 
century — the Order of United Americans, 
was founded at New York city in 1844 and 
maintained a nominal existence until within 
a few years. It carried marks of the influ- 
ence of the Red Men political secret socie- 
ties of the earlier part of this and the latter 
portion of the last century. It was due to 
members of this Order that the struggling 
babe of Know Nothingism was nourished 
until it became a vigorous youth. Whether 
the real name of the Know Nothing party 
was the Supreme Order of Sons of '76, the 
Order of the Star Spangled Banner, or the 
Order of Uncle Sam, has not, so far as 
known, been finally determined ; but those 
titles have been identified with that organi- 
zation by various writers and by others who 
participated in the political campaigns of 
1854 and 1856. The Know Nothing party 



being distinctly political, as well as patri- 
otic, attracted members from all the patri- 
otic orders of that time — those previously 
named, as well as others which appeared be- 
tween 1850 and 1854. Among the latter were 
the Order of the American Star, Guards of 
Liberty, Wide Awakes, True Brethren, 
Native Sons of America, the American 
Knights, and one called Free and Accepted 
Americans. None of these gained much 
headway, but each appeared in response 
to the then widespread political sentiment 
favoring the formation of patriotic orders 
of a secret character to preserve unimpaired 
what were, or are, regarded as American 
institutions, methods, and teachings. Here, 
then, were thirteen secret orders in 1852-53 
contributing of their influence and mem- 
bership to the one great political secret 
society of that period, the Know Nothing 
party. Of the fourteen, nine are dead, 
eight having gone down with the Know 
Nothing party itself. The survivors are 
the five first mentioned. It was not until 
after the period of reconstruction, follow- 
ing the Civil War, that the secret patriotic 
orders again began to secure an increase of 
membership and a revival of interest. Be- 
tween 1872, in which year the Order of 
Native Americans was founded, and in 1895, 
when the Order of the Little Red School 
House appeared, there were established, in 
all, thirteen patriotic orders. They are, 
with dates: Order of the American Union, 
1873; Crescents, 1875; Templars of Liberty, 
1881; Patriotic League of the Revolution, 
1882; Order of American Freemen, 1884; 
National Order of Videttes, 1886; American 
Protective Association ("A. P. A/'), 1887; 
the American Patriot League; Loyal Women 
of American Liberty, and the Order of the 



1764 



1771 



1789 



1813 



1834 
Non-Secret. 



Know-Nothing Party, 1851-54 



<£ 



1845*^ 



1834-45. 

Native American parties. 

Anti- Roman Catholic outbreaks. 



1850 



1849 



1858 rv 



[It swallowed all secret and other 
Native American parties of its time.] 



These Societies are, or were, 
of O. U. A M. or Jr. 0. 
U. A. M. parentage. 



1872 




1873 



1890 

isor, 



1884 




m s 



3 2 € 

.2 © .: 

if > »> ~ ~ «5 «- 

* ■£ © 2 © -S © 

o */; < ^ h ^ c 



•2 ^ "2 < 



189rt 

1 



Many of the 
members of such 
of these societies 
as survived 1887, 
were, between 
that year and 
1896, swept into 
the American 
Protective Asso* 
ciation, or 

•A P. A." 




•S < 



© v. 



• £ -3 

?n J c« 

C3 C -3 

O d <u 

-3 M k 

.2 © © 



© -5 .^ >-i 

— fi © ^ 

g | a o 

.— o <* © 

* a o t- 

55 < J O 



© § g 



© "S 

£ © 

e < 



S 2 

a* 

o « 



O 5 



A few societies 
survived 1898, 
notably the four 
whichreappeared 
and were con- 
spicuous after the 
downfall of the 
Know-Nothing 
Party. 



FAMILY TREE OF LEADING PATRIOTIC AND POLITICAL SECRET SOCIETIES IN THE 
UNITED STATES FROM 1764 TO DATE. 



AMERICAN BROTHERHOOD 



Bed, White and Blue in 1888, and the Loyal 
Men of American Liberty in 1890. More 
than one-half of the orders in this list are 
extinct, or have only a nominal existence. 
The Knights of Reciprocity, 1890 ; Indian 
Republican League, 1893; American Knights 
of Protection, 1894; Patriots of America 
(silver propagandists), 1895, and the Sil- 
ver Knights of America are to be classed as 
political rather than patriotic orders, in 
which group should also be placed the Sons 
of Liberty, 1765; Sons of St. Tamina, 
1771; the political society of Red Men 
founded in 1813, and the Know Nothing 
party of 1851-54. There is no relationship 
between any of these patriotic and political 
secret orders and the military orders which 
have a ritual and other characteristics of 
secret societies formed almost exclusively 
to perpetuate associations and friendships 
formed during the War of the Rebellion. 
These, in turn, should not be confounded 
with various non-secret military or ancestral 
patriotic orders founded on blood relation- 
ship to those who participated in American 
wars prior to the civil conflict, or rela- 
tionship to civilians who emigrated here 
while the Republic was young, and at vari- 
ous periods prior thereto. The continuous 
chain of patriotic and political secret socie- 
ties which marks the history of the Ameri- 
can people for one hundred and thirty-three 
years is described at length under the titles, 
Sons of Liberty, and Order of United 
American Mechanics. 

American Brotherhood. — Organized 
as a native American secret society at New 
York city, 1844. Afterwards called Order 
of United Americans. Now inactive. (See 
Order United Americans.) 

American Knights. — One of the many 
native American secret societies which ap- 
peared between 1850 and 1850 and finally 
became absorbed by the Know Nothing- 
movement. Little is known of it to-day 
except that it existed. 

American Knights of Protection. — 
This organization was founded by Charles 



L... Wilson and others of Baltimore, Md., 
and of Washington, D.C., at Baltimore, in 
1894, as a mutual assessment, beneficiary, 
patriotic, and, to an extent, political secret 
society. Several of the original members 
were or had been affiliated with the Junior 
Order of United American Mechanics and 
other patriotic orders, the Knights of 
Pythias, Shield of Honor, Knights of the 
Golden Chain, and the National Union. 
It sought to supplement the work of the 
older patriotic orders by including the 
economic policy of protection among the 
principles to which its members gave ad- 
herence. This is shown in its preliminary 
obligations for candidates for membership, 
which requires approval of the "practical 
enforcement of the doctrine of protection 
to American interests, through tariff legis- 
lation, restriction of foreign immigration, 
and reciprocity, and of the purposes of the 
Order to support purely American princi- 
ples without sectionalism or sectarianism, 
to protect the public school system, de- 
fend the sanctity of the right of franchise 
by all possible means, and to revive and 
strengthen the spirit of American patriot- 
ism." Beneficiary membership is optional, 
and both black and white may become either 
social or beneficiary members. The chief 
emblem of the order is an eagle standing 
on a pedestal, representing protection, pa- 
triotism, and prosperity, upon which is 
hung the American flag. The ritual is said 
not to have been based upon anything 
known in the other secret organizations of 
which the founders were members. 

American Order of United Catholics. 
— Organized at New York city, in January, 
1896, by members of the Roman Catholic 
Church, to resist the American Protective 
Association, or "A. P. A." movement. It 
was expected by its founders that the new 
order would demand assurances from local, 
State, and national candidates for public 
office that they oppose or disapprove of 
the American Protective Association, or 
any other society which seeks to discriminate 



AMERICAN PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION 



293 



against Roman Catholics as such. The 
Supreme Council was formed March 7, 
1896, and the Order organized upon the 
usual secret society lines. The announce- 
ment in daily papers of the birth of the 
association was accompanied by the appar- 
ently inspired explanation, that the time 
had come for Eoman Catholics "to act 
together as a matter of self -protection ; " 
and that " the Church is not opposed to 
secret societies, except those which are oath- 
bound." A confidential circular set forth 
the objects of the society as follows : 

To unite fraternally all practical Catholics of 
every profession, business, and occupation ; to give 
all possible aid in its power to members of the or- 
ganization by encouraging each other in business, 
and by assisting each other to obtain employment ; 
to uphold and defend the Catholic faith, clergy, and 
institutions against naturalized foreigners, who, 
aided and abetted by said class of native Ameri- 
cans, have gained great strength and power in our 
legislatures. 

Little has been learned concerning the 
growth of this organization. 

American Patriot League. — Organized 
at New York city in 1888 by Rev. S. Lan- 
sing Reeve, D.D., and others with Order of 
United American Mechanics leanings, as 
a mutual assessment, charitable, and be- 
nevolent, patriotic, native American secret 
society. No religions test was required for 
membership. While in no sense a labor 
union, it encouraged restriction of immigra- 
tion in the interest of the American artisan 
and laborer. Its subordinate bodies were 
styled Camps, and its watchwords were 
"Unity, Equality, Benevolence, Loyalty, 
Vigilance, and Fraternity." A copy of one 
of its seals represents Washington standing 
between Perry and Ellsworth, and one of its 
functions has been to celebrate a long list of 
Revolutionary and other national anniversa- 
ries. There is no known print of its prin- 
cipal emblem, which consists of a three-pan- 
elled, flag-draped pulpit with half-drawn 
cutlass and sabre; in the centre panel, a rural 
church; on the right, a schoolhouse; and on 



the left, a rose-covered cottage; on the pul- 
pit, a ballot-box surmounted by an open 
Bible. This society, formed one year after 
the birth of the American Protective Asso- 
ciation, was, like the Know Nothing organ- 
ization, extremely secret in character, it 
being forbidden to reveal the total mem- 
bership or names of members. Copies of 
its constitution and laws were restricted to 
the use of members. The ritual and initi- 
atory ceremonial were founded on American 
history, particularly that of the Revolu- 
tionary period. 

It had a women's auxiliary, or branch, 
known as the Daughters of Columbia, but 
it was optional whether members, men and 
women, met under that title or as the 
American Patriot League. By 1890 the 
League had spread to Connecticut, New 
Jersey, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and to 
California, but the rapidly growing influ- 
ence of the American Protective Associa- 
tion was evidently too great to withstand. 
Not long after, there appeared to be three 
American Patriot Leagues, the result evi- 
dently of an effort to maintain the organi- 
zation locally in the face of the attraction 
of available material to the American Pro- 
tective Association. The Brooklyn Associa- 
tion is still in existence, and the New York 
city branch is called the Pro Patria Club. 
The national organization appears to be 
dormant, if not extinct. 

American Protective Association. — 
Founded at Clinton, la., in 1887; it is sim- 
ilar to the Know Nothing party of 1851-56, 
except that any American citizen is eligible 
to join the "A. P. A.," as it is called, 
whereas the Know r Nothing organization 
admitted only native Americans. The 
American Protective Association was com- 
paratively obscure for two or three years, 
but soon after grew rapidly and spread to 
the West, South, and East, absorbing in its 
march thousands of members of older patri- 
otic orders. In this respect it again par- 
alleled the Know Nothing party; but while 
its total active membership in 1896 was 



294 



AMERICAN PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION 



probably more than 2,000,000, it was rela- 
tively a less potent political factor than the 
Know Nothing organization in 1856 with 
nearly 900,000 members. It has been said 
of the latter that it "was the greatest or- 
ganization — greatest in the social standing 
and ability of its leaders, as well as in the 
number of its members and its influence on 
politics — of all the parties of its class which 
the country has known." 

The Know Nothing party between 1852 
and 1855 drew within itself practically the 
active membership of the Order of the 
American Union, founded in 1844, the 
Order of United American Mechanics, 
1845, the United Sons of America, 1846, 
the American Protestant Association, 1849, 
the Brotherhood of the Union, and a num- 
ber of smaller similar societies which did 
not survive amalgamation, such as the 
Guards of Liberty, Native Sons of America, 
American Knights, True Brethren, the Or- 
der of Free and Accepted Americans, the 
Wide Awakes,* and the Order of the Ameri- 
can Star. The United Sons of America dis- 
appeared with the American party when the 
Civil War broke out, but was revived as the 
Patriotic Order Sons of America in 1874 by 
the Junior Sons of America, an auxiliary of 
the United Sons, so that the Know Noth- 
ing party was in reality the outcome of a 
political fusing of the principles underly- 
ing the patriotic orders named, founded be- 
tween 1843 and 1853. With the breaking 
out of the Civil War, the Order of United 
Americans, the Orders of United American 
Mechanics, Senior and Junior, the Brother- 
hood of the Union, the American Protestant 
Association and the Junior Sons of America 
again became the sole conservators of what 
they stood for in public affairs from 1844 to 
1860. Evidently another generation was 
to illustrate the adage that history repeats 
itself, for between 1870 and 1897 association 
with and the example and outgivings of the 

* This name was revived by many of the uni- 
formed organizations in the Republican political 
processions in the campaigns of 1860 and 1864. 



half-century-old patriotic orders again re- 
sulted in the springing up of a group of ^ 
similar societies,* which, after the founding 
of the American Protective Association, in 
1887, joined with the parent orders in rally- 
ing to the support of the "A. P. A." In 
most instances they lost their identity in the 
latter, although with few exceptions claim- 
ing nominally a continuous existence. As 
the four or five earlier patriotic orders were 
to the Know Nothing party of fifty years 
ago, so practically are those identical orders 
and their offspring to the "A. P. A." 
movement of the past decade. 

In a statement published in the St. Louis 
"Globe Democrat," December 16, 1894, 
Mr. W. J. H. Traynor, as President of the 
American Protective Association, stated in 
substance as follows respecting its origin 
and aims: The American Protective Associ- 
ation was founded " by a handful of patri- 
otic, well-informed Americans," who pro- 
mulgated the constitution of the society at 
Clinton, la., on March 13, 1887. Briefly 
stated, the object of the organization is to 
counteract the alleged efforts of representa- 
tives in the United States of the papal gov- 
ernment in Rome to dominate politics here 
with " the spirit of ecclesiasticism " looking 
to " union of church and state." As evi- 
dence of the necessity for such an organiza- 
tion there are specified "many appropria- 
tions to church institutions;" the " segre- 
gation " of " the subjects of the Pope " in 
nearly all our large cities (tending, as de- 
clared, to render "the election of a non- 
papist" an exception), and the fact, as 
stated, that " from 60 to 90 per cent, of the 
public officeholders and employes" were 
"followers of the Poj)e." This, the Presi- 
dent of the American Protective Association 

* The best known of these are the Order of Native 
Americans, Order of the American Union, ''The 
Crescents," Templars of Liberty, Patriotic League 
of the Revolution, Order of American Freemen, 
National Order of Videttes, American Patriot 
League, Loyal Men of American Liberty and Order 
of the Little Red School House. 



AMERICAN PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION 295 

added, could not be attributed to accident Church. His story, as originally printed, is 

or explained " on the ground of superior fit- as follows: 

ness," for, he states, "the fact was notori- _, _... , _ . . x , . ' . . aon 

' . ' . ..... , , . The condition of affairs in this country m 1887, 

ous that the most illiterate of government and up t0 that timQ> was such that the institutions 

employes . . . were subjects of the pa- f our Government were controlled and the patron- 

pacy," and that "where papists held the -age was doled out by an ecclesiastical element 

reins of government " the greatest corrup- under the direction and heavy hand of a foreign 

tion existed ecclesiastical potentate. This power became so 

Thp ohicwtH of the Association as an innuential that {t stood as a unit in man ^ P laces 
J against the institutions of the country. Through 
nounced at Clinton, are said to have been the Legislature of Maryland at one time it destroyed 
modified only slightly since the meeting the public school system of that State. Seeing 
in 1887. They are summarized as follows: these things, I felt that it was necessary that some- 
Perpetual separation of church and state; thin g should be done. Gathering round me six 
undivided fealty to the Bepublic; acknowl- men who had the courage of their convictions, we 
n . ..,.■■, Piirii i t , met in mv office m Clinton on March 15, 1887, and 
edgment of the right of the State to deter- laid the f oundation of the 0rder> That same dav 

mine the scope of its own jurisdiction; we formulated the ritualistic work and adopted a 

maintenance of a free, non-sectarian system constitution. The chief idea we had in view in the 

of education; prohibition of any govern- constitution was this, that we had no right under 

ment grant or special privilege to any sec- the constitution -of this country to oppose any 

tarian body whatever; -purification of the f\f°™ ho ^ on a ™ ° f «■ dogmatic views, 

,,,.,,.,,.■, , * „ , . .,, faith, etc., but we did believe we had a right to 

ballot;" establishment of a franchise with oppose it wheu it became a great political factor. 

an educational qualification; temporary sus- We believed then and we believe now that every 

pension of immigration, its resumption to man in this country has a right to worship God 

be based on guarantees of extended residence according to the dictates of his conscience, but we 

in the country, with an added educational di(1 not believe that the constitution intended to 

,.^ ,. -, , „ ,. convey the right to any set of men to control and 

qualification; equal taxation 01 all except . , , ,, ,.,.* , „ . „ ., . 

^ , . . L manipulate the political affairs of this country to 

public property ; prohibition of convict labor, the ag g nuu iizement of any ecclesiastical power, 
and the subjection to public inspection of 

all private institutions where persons of Mr. Bowers said that of the seven men 

either sex are secluded, with or against their who organized the first Council three were 

consent. The President of the Association Republicans, two Democrats, one Populist, 

declares that instead of desiring or trying and one Prohibitionist. In a religious way 

to bring "religion into politics," the object they were divided as follows: One Metho- 

of the society is to keep religion and politics dist, one Baptist, one Presbyterian, one 

apart; not to recognize or condemn religion, Congregationalist, one Lutheran and one of 

which "is a personal matter between the no religion. 

individual and his God," but to demand Mr. Bowers was elected the first Supreme 

"that the individual shall know where his President, and held that office until 1893, 

allegiance to the State ends and his tribute when W. J. H. Traynor succeeded him. 

to Cod begins." Application of this is The influence of the latter at the period of 

found in the following: "If papists accept the organization's greatest political activity 

their politics with their morals from an was such that it is of interest to know 

alien, they must not be surprised if their something of the man. He is a Canadian 

non-papist fellow-citizens distrust their pur- by birth, having been born at Brantford, 

poses, no matter how pure their motives." July 4, 1845. His father was a contractor 

The founder of the American Protec- and met with reverses which curtailed the 

tive Association is H. F. Bowers, attorney, son's opportunities for education. But 

Clinton, la., a member of the Methodist young Traynor persisted in his studies, and 



296 



AMERICAN PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION 



after a long struggle became proprietor of 
one or more American newspaper proper- 
ties. His residence has long been at De- 
troit, Mich. His secret society affiliations 
have been as fairly consistent as numerous. 
He joined the Independent Order of Good 
Templars when a boy and the Loyal Orange 
Institution at the age of seventeen, where 
he attained the Scarlet degree within a year. 
His rank in the Orange Institution is high, 
with membership in the American Orange 
Knights, the Royal Black Knights of the 
Camp of Israel, and in the Illustrious Or- 
der of Knights of Malta. Among the later 
crop of American patriotic orders, in addi- 
tion to the "A. P. A.," he is or was con- 
nected with the Order of the American 
Union, the Crescents, and the American 
Patriot League, in addition to which he is a 
member of the American Protestant Asso- 
ciation, which claims a continuous existence 
of more than fifty-five years. Among the 
fraternal beneficiary orders, Mr. Tray nor is 
reported to be connected with the Macca- 
bees, the National Union, and the Eoyal 
Arcanum. 

That sentiments common to Orangemen 
and some other Protestants have much to 
do with influencing those identified with 
the Association is shown by the point of 
view taken by Supreme Vice-President H. 
H. Jackson at Atlanta, November 18, 1895, 
who was quoted in the newspapers as fol- 
lows : 

Not that I have any war to make upon the Irish, 
but if the Pope were to interfere with the working 
of American plans the Irish would desert, just as 80 
per cent, of them did during the war. Look at the 
riots in the Eastern cities. That is why I hate to 
see Catholics holding office in the United States. 
Suppose we were to have a war and the Pope were 
to interfere, why, the Catholics could ruin and 
wreck us in one hour. What the Pope says is 
supreme, and they would turn against us if they 
were ordered to. 

The expositions of the purposes of the 
Association in the public prints have not 
appeared to be such as would be likely to 
attract hundreds of thousands of voters of 



both political parties to its standard, yet 
its success in recruiting members has been 
remarkable. Whether it is due in part to 
certain tracts or leaflets which bear its 
imprint must be conjectured. One of 
these gives the causes "which led to the 
uprising" (the formation of the Associa- 
tion) as follows: the Roman Catholic attack 
on the public schools; the attempted " for- 
eignizing " of whole communities in lan- 
guage and religion by "Romish priests;" 
the remarkable increase in untaxed church 
property; the "Jesuit control of the gov- 
ernment at Washington; " the " declaration 
of the Pope " that the United States is his 
one bright hope for the future; the "fre- 
quent desecration of the American flag by 
priests," and the "brag and bluster of 
Romish orators and newspapers that Ameri- 
cans are cowards, and that all the good 
which ever came to this country has come 
from Romanists." Then follows what ap- 
pear to be quotations from Catholic news- 
papers and other authorities from the Pope 
down, apparently showing that the Roman 
Catholic Church and its representatives 
place civil authority below that of the 
Church where the two may be in conflict, 
and attack the public schools as " sinks of 
moral pollution." The concluding argu- 
ment against the Roman Catholic citizen is 
as f ollows : 

In the Civil War (instigated by the Roman 
Hierarchy) the official records show that the whole 
number engaged was 2,128,200. Natives of the 
United States, 1,625,267 ; deserted 5 per cent. (45 
per cent, of these were Roman Catholics). Germans, 
180,817 ; deserted 10 per cent. Irish, 144,221 
deserted 72 per cent., or 103,849. British, 90,000 
deserted 7 per cent. Other foreigners, 87,855 
deserted 7 per cent. * 

In April, 1896, the President of the Asso- 
ciation, then at Savannah, was quoted as 
saying: 

If McKinley should be nominated he would be 
defeated at the polls in November by the A. P. A. 

* There are no records of the nationalities of the 
men who enlisted in the Civil War and none of the 
nationalities of the men who deserted. 



AMERICAN PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION 



297 



vote if the Democratic party put up a good man 
with a clean record, one who is known to be true to 
American principles and not a truckler to the 
Catholics. 

At Detroit the same gentleman was quoted 
as follows: 

It is doing no injustice to Mr. Cleveland to as- 
sert that if the United States had been a papal 
country and the Pope a temporal sovereign, our 
President could not have given more recognition to 
the papacy as a temporal power than he has during 
his present term of office. 

In an interview at St. Louis in February, 
1896, ex-Mayor Gilroy of New York said: 

Our last defeat in the State of nearly 100,000, I 
attribute very largely to the machinations of the 
A. P. A. We carried the city of New York by 
25,000, and yet they beat us by four times that 
number in the State. 

The Executive Board of the Association 
at St. Louis, in October, 1895, advised mem- 
bers of the Order as follows: 

To vote for nominees on the tickets of the 
party they affiliate with and to vote for the election 
of candidates who are in thorough accord with, and 
will, if elected, support the reduction of immigra- 
tion, extension of time for naturalization and educa- 
tional qualification for suffrage, maintenance of a 
general non-sectarian free public school system, no 
public funds or public property f of sectarian pur- 
poses, taxation of all property not owned and con- 
trolled by the public, the opening to public official 
inspection of all private schools, convents, monas- 
teries, hospitals, and all institutions of an educa- 
tional and reformatory character, and no support 
for any public position to any person who recognizes 
primal allegiance in civil affairs to any foreign or 
ecclesiastical power. 

The capture of the formerly Democratic 
State of New Jersey by the Republicans in 
1895 is explained in the New York " Her- 
ald " of November 10th, that year, as fol- 
lows : 

But Mr. Griggs's is not an ordinary majority. 
What made it extraordinary ? Well, there is a 
general consensus of opinion that the A. P. A. and 
the Jr. O. U. A. M. contributed the finishing 
touches to his labors. Those who had been watch- 
ing the movements of these allied fraternities 
realized the moment Chancellor McGill was nomi- 



nated that his vote in 1875 for the Catholic Protec- 
tory bill would be forced into a prominence in the 
campaign that it should not have had. The Jr. O. 
U. A. M., the visible end of the A. P. A., have 
been exceptionally active ever since the Republicans 
made their first sweep of the State. They have 
invaded the halls of legislation with patriotic bills of 
all kinds. The school flag act was of their inspira- 
tion; they stood as sponsors for the act of last 
winter forbidding the wearing of church garbs in 
schoolrooms, and, altogether, they have shown a 
disposition to get into politics. 

The Association took an active interest in 
elections in nearly one-half of the States in 
November, 1894, for Congressional, State, 
and municipal officers. In some instances 
it put up tickets of its own, but generally it 
chose between particular candidates of the 
great parties. Many of the candidates 
whom it favored won, but a good many 
were defeated. It attempted to defeat 
Thomas H. Carter, a Catholic, in the sena- 
torial canvass in Montana, but failed, as it 
did in an effort to prevent the appointment 
of Colonel J. J. Coppinger as brigadier-gen- 
eral, the election of Greenhalge as Governor 
of Massachusetts and the placing of a statue 
of Father Marquette in the capitol at "Wash- 
ington. Not only many municipal and 
state officials, legislative and executive, have 
been members of the Association, but the 
latter are to be found in Congress and in all 
departments of the government service. 

Having absorbed a large share of the 
membership of nearly all contemporaneous 
patriotic orders, the Association easily domi- 
nated the convention or council of patriotic 
organizations at Washington, in December, 
1895, which included representatives not only 
from the American Protective Association, 
but from the Orangemen, the Junior Order 
of United American Mechanics, the Society 
for the Protection of American Institutions, 
"and other similar organizations" which 
represented "more than 3,000,000 mem- 
bers." A platform was adopted demanding 
restricted immigration, opposing appro- 
priations of funds for sectarian purposes, 
favoring the adoption of "the proposed 



AMERICAN PROTESTANT ASSOCIATION 



sixteenth amendment," declaring that no 
one not a citizen should be granted the right 
to vote, and that all except public property 
should be subject to equal taxation. In 
conclusion a committee was appointed to 
attend the national conventions of politi- 
cal parties in 1896, to induce them to incor- 
porate these principles in their platforms, 
and from that movement was born the 
American Protective Association political 
manifestation of 1896. The result was a 
disappointment to the patriotic orders, for 
the injection of the sound money issue into 
the presidential campaign of 1896, and its 
bitter antagonism by the bimetallists and 
those who favored the free and unlimited 
coinage of silver at the ratio of 16 to 1 with 
gold, drove much that the "A. P. A." 
stood for out of sight and mind. It re- 
mains to be seen whether the check given 
in 1896 to the advancing wave of what the 
patriotic orders represent is to result in its 
running out into the sea of temporary po- 
litical oblivion or not. Whatever the fate 
of the "A. P. A.," the political weapon of 
the older and later patriotic orders, those 
secret nurseries of opinion which gave it life 
and strength still remain, with a larger 
membership and greater activity than be- 
fore. (See Sons of Liberty, Sons of St. 
Tamina, Society of Eed Men, Order of 
United American Mechanics, and the Know 
Nothing party.) 

The Association has spread to the Do- 
minion of Canada, Mexico, and to the 
United Kingdom. Across the border it has 
worked in harmony with the Orangemen, 
and is said to have controlled elections in 
chief cities of the Dominion in 1894 and 
1895. Not much is heard of it in England 
aside from the emphasis it may give Orange 
lodge demonstrations. In Mexico,, as the 
Constitutional Eeform Club, its efforts are 
mainly to " combat the growing power and 
prestige of the Catholic clergy and defend 
the public schools." This branch was or- 
ganized at the City of Mexico, September 8, 
1895. At the close of the session of the 



Supreme Council at Milwaukee, May 12, 
1895, action was taken to organize boys and 
girlsbetween the ages of fourteen and twenty- 
one throughout the United States and Can- 
ada as a Junior American Protective Asso- 
ciation. Councils of the Association for 
negro members were organized at the South 
in 1895 and 1896, but at the North mem- 
bers were received into many Council Cham- 
bers irrespective of the color of the appli- 
cant. The women's auxiliary to the Amer- 
ican Protective Association, in imitation of 
the Daughters of Liberty attached to the 
Order of United American Mechanics and 
other similar organizations, is known as the 
Women's Historical Society. Its special 
interest in American history is naturally 
along the lines indicated by a familiarity 
with leading patriotic orders, their aims 
and careers. Dissension in the Illinois 
branch of the American Protective Associ- 
ation in February, 1895, resulted in a seces- 
sion and the formation of a similar society 
under the name of the National Assembly 
Patriotic League, which was speedily incor- 
porated, but is not known to have survived. 
American Protestant Association. — 
The oldest American, exclusively anti-Ko- 
man Catholic secret society, a prototype of 
and the original " A. P. A." or. American 
Protective Association. It was founded at 
Pittsburg, Pa., with five degrees, which, 
in connection with the personnel of its 
earlier membership, point to Orange sym- 
pathies. Accounts of its origin do not agree 
as to the exact year in which it was estab- 
lished, some placing it in 1844, and others as 
late as 1850. It is probable that American 
Protestant associations existed as long ago 
as the earlier date named, but it is also 
probable that the American Protestant As- 
sociation was founded in 1849, because the 
" forty-fifth annual convention " of the 
Pennsylvania State Lodge was held at its 
natal city in 1895. A former chief execu- 
tive of the Association states : 

The American Protestant Association was or- 
ganized December 19, 1849. On January 9, 1850, 



AXCIEXT ORDER OF LOYAL AMERICANS 



299 



they met in Union Hall, corner of Fifth and Smith- 
field Streets, Pittsburg, and elected Grand Lodge 
officers, William Shannon being the first Grand 
Master. At a meeting held December 5, 1850, 
overtures were received from the Protestant Benev- 
olent Association of New York to send delegates 
to a meeting of that society held in that city ; the 
result was a union of the bodies under the name 
of Protestant Association, the word American be- 
ing subsequently prefixed. David Steen, William 
Shannon, Samuel A. Long and George Taylor were 
among the organizers. I do not know that any of 
them are alive. It was not the Orange Institution 
and there is no affiliation between them. There is 
nothing on record as to what was the cause for 
forming the " A. P. A.," but I have always under- 
stood that at that time there was no Protestant 
society to which citizens of foreign birth could be 
admitted that had for its fundamental principles 
the maintenance of civil and religious liberty, and 
the maintenance of the Bible in our public schools; 
hence the "A. P. A.," to which all Protestants of 
good moral character may be admitted. 

The Association continues to this day and 
is strongly anti-Roman Catholic. Its total 
membership is placed at over 200,000, of 
which 75,000 are credited to Pennsylvania 
alone. Subordinate lodges are governed by 
State Lodges, and the latter send represen- 
tatives to the Right Worthy Grand Lodge of 
the United States. Following closely, as it 
did, the appearance of the Order of United 
American Mechanics at Philadelphia in 
1845, and the Patriotic Order, United Sons 
of America at the same city in 1847, it also 
became identified with the Know Nothing 
party campaigns of 1850 to 1856. It is 
related that it is to the American Protes- 
tant Association that early native American 
newspapers were indebted for the so-called 
oath of the Roman Catholic priesthood, often 
quoted by Orange and other Protestant 
writers in discussing the church of Rome. 
With the rise of Know Xothingism, the 
American Protestant Association and its 
allies or sympathizers, the Order of United 
American Mechanics, the Patriotic Order, 
Sons of America, and the Brotherhood of 
the Union, founded in 1850, were sw r ept 
into the Know Nothing campaign of na- 
tivism and anti-Roman Catholicism, much 



as most of the members of the same societies 
were engulfed in the w^ave of "A. P. A."- 
ism, American Protective Association, forty- 
five years later. Like the other societies 
mentioned, also, the American Protestant 
Association survived the Civil War, but 
works along the lines of a purely American 
Orange association. 

Unlike most of its companions, in its 
antagonism to Roman Catholic prominence 
in American public life, the American Prot- 
estant Association has suffered from schism 
and secession. One branch, formed in 1878, 
claiming the name of the parent organiza- 
tion, made up largely, probably exclu- 
sively of colored men, is still in existence. 
At the meeting of the Right TVorthy Grand 
Lodge of the mother association in 1884 it 
was ordered that two of the five degrees 
should thereafter be omitted. As thirteen 
lodges refused to conform to the order, the 
Grand Lodge withdrew their charters and 
expelled their members, whereupon the lat- 
ter held a convention and formed a similar 
society under the title Order of American 
Freemen. The Junior American Protes- 
tant Association, modelled probably after 
the original ''Junior Order," that of the 
Sons of America, w r as founded in 1864, and 
like the Junior Order, United American 
Mechanics, afterward declared its indepen- 
dence of the parent society, even going so 
far as to change its name. This happened 
in 1890 at "Wilkesbajre, Pa., at a conven- 
tion of the Junior Association, but not 
without much opposition. The new r name 
chosen was Loyal Knights of America, and 
membership in the society is said to be com- 
posed mainly of Protestant Irish Americans. 
(See Order United American Mechanics.) 

American Protestant Association. — 
Schismatic (negro) branch of the American 
Protestant Association, formed in Pennsyl- 
vania in 1849. Said to be still in existence. 
(See American Protestant Association.) 

Ancient Order of Loyal Americans. — 
A patriotic, social, and fraternal organiza- 
tion of recent origin at Guthrie, Oklahoma. 



300 



BENEVOLENT ORDER OF BEREANS 



Benevolent Order of Bereans. — An 

extinct anti-Roman Catholic secret society, 
having beneficiary features. It was formed 
at Philadelphia between 1847 and 1850, 
and it was the outgrowth of the move- 
ment which gave birth to the Order of 
United American Mechanics ; the Patriotic 
Order, United Sons of America; the Amer- 
ican Protestant Association; and the native 
American society, best known as the Know 
Nothing party. (See Order of United 
American Mechanics.) 

Brotherhood of the Union. — Follow- 
ing the organization of the patriotic native 
American secret societies, the Order of 
United American Mechanics, and the Patri- 
otic Order of United Sons of America, at 
Philadelphia in 1845 and 1847, respectively, 
came the Brotherhood of America, at the 
same city, in 1850 with similar purposes and 
characteristics. The latter, with the Senior 
and Junior Orders of United American 
Mechanics, and the Patriotic Order, Sons 
of America, constitute the four existing 
patriotic secret societies which survived the 
fate of the Sons of '76, or Order of the 
Star Spangled Banner, better known as 
the Know Nothing party, and later, the 
non-secret American party, which went to 
pieces on the political rocks in the stormy 
campaign of 1856-60. The Brotherhood 
was organized, with the motto, " Truth, 
Hope, and Love," by George Lippard, for 
whose teachings and writings the society 
professes a reverence. Mr. Lippard was 
born near Yellow Springs, Blair County, 
Pa., April 10, 1822. He studied law in 
the office of Ovid F. Johnston, Attorney- 
General, and in 1841 became contributor to 
the "Spirit of the Times." Allibone's 
Dictionary gives a list of eleven works from 
his pen, and Drake's Dictionary adds eight 
more. Drake says of him : " His works 
evince vigor and power, but have little else 
to commend them." He died in Phila- 
delphia, February 9, 1854. The following 
quotations are taken from published papers 
of the organization : 



The Gospel of Xazareth and the Declaration of 
Independence are books for study ; from them are 
drawn the grand truths taught the initiate. . . . 
Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, three lives united 
in one effort to remove man from the bondage of 
political slavery. They succeeded, and the Brother- 
hood of the Union seek to complete the work 
by giving man freedom from industrial servi- 
tude. . . . The spirit of the order is expressed 
in the word "union" — union of the good against 
the evil ; union of the just against the unjust ; 
union of light, love, and purity, against darkness, 
hate, and corruption ; union of freedom in defence 
of their country against tyrants. . . . Believ- 
ing that the American Union is a palladium of lib- 
erty to the people, the guarantee of their rights, 
and the bond of their perpetuity, the Brotherhood 
has vowed to maintain that union against enemies 
without and against traitors within, and the sa- 
credness of that vow has been attested by the rich 
blood of many a brother and by the crushed and 
scattered ruins of many a Circle. 

With others named, it brought antagonism 
to union of church and state, maintenance 
of the public school system, " America 
for Americans," and restricted immigration 
down to a period following the Civil War, 
when they were apparently destined to be 
exploited again, in and out of the councils 
of these and of other and newer patriotic 
secret orders. The government of the 
Brotherhood is similar to that of the Patri- 
otic Order, Sons of America, with subordi- 
nate and State Circles, instead of Camps, 
and a Supreme Circle. It also has benefici- 
ary features. A singular custom is that of 
calling its three chief officers, respectively, 
Washington, Jefferson, and Franklin, and 
thus in the Supreme Circle they are ad- 
dressed as Supreme Washington, Supreme 
Jefferson, and Supreme Franklin. Total 
membership in the Brotherhood is about 
25,000, its greatest strength being in Penn- 
sylvania. There is also an auxiliaiy or 
branch of the society known as the Home 
Communion, to which members of the 
Brotherhood and woman relatives are 
eligible. Subordinate bodies are called 
Homes, and governing. State bodies, Grand 
Homes. The latter send delegates of the 
Supreme Circle of the Brotherhood. The 



INDIAN REPUBLICAN LEAGUE 



301 



communions are strong in Pennsylvania 
and New Jersey. The extent to which 
" Americanism " may go in the work of an 
organization like the Brotherhood of the 
Union may be inferred from its conferring 
a degree entitled the " Grand Exalted 
Washington." The society, while growing 
steadily, has the smallest membership of 
the four in the historical group of patriotic 
orders to which it is assigned. (See Order 
United American Mechanics; Patriotic Or- 
der, Sons of America, and Junior Order 
United American Mechanics.) 

Constitutional Reform Club. — Name 
of the Mexican branch of the American 
Protective Association, or " A. P. A." (See 
the latter. ) 

Crescents, The. — An American patriotic 
secret society which originated in California 
after the Civil War. It was quite active in 
San Francisco at the time, but little has 
been heard of it in recent years. 

Daughters of America. — Founded in 
1888 as a men and women's social, patriotic 
beneficiary secret society, auxiliary to the 
Junior Order, United American Mechanics. 
White American women over sixteen years 
of age and members of the Junior Order, 
United American Mechanics are eligible to 
membership, which aggregates about 60,- 
000. (See Junior Order, United American 
Mechanics.) 

Daughters of Columbia. — Auxiliary to 
the American Patriot League. Both men 
and women are members. Formed in 1888, 
but now inactive. (See American Patriot 
League. ) 

Daughters of Liberty. — A patriotic, 
native American social and benevolent 
secret society. It was founded at Meriden, 
Conn., 1875. Total membership is 60,000. 
Its objects are to promote fidelity, patriot- 
ism, and integrity, the maintenance of the 
public school system and the non-interfer- 
ence of church with state. White native 
American women sixteen or more years of 
age and members of the Senior and Junior 
Order, United American Mechanics are 



eligible to membership. (See Junior and 
Senior Orders, United American Me- 
chanics. ) 

Daughters of the Republic. — See 
Patriots of America. 

r Free and Accepted Americans. — See 
Templars Order of the American Star.) 

Freemen's Protective Silver Federa- 
tion. — A secret, oath- bound fraternity or 
order, established at Spokane, Wash., in 
1894, ' ' to unite the friends of silver under 
one banner to battle for the white metal 
and to wage war against the gold monop- 
oly." It operated under a constitution, 
by-laws and ritual adopted at Pullman, 
Wash., in the year named, and spread 
through the Pacific Coast States and east 
and north to the Missouri River. It was 
declared to be an outgrowth or a crea- 
tion by former members of the National 
Order of Videttes. Extravagant claims as 
to membership were made as late as 1896, 
one total given being 800,000, but there is 
no doubt of its popularity and influence 
west of the Rocky Mountains during the 
free-silver campaign of 1896. Its obligation 
was said to be " most emphatic and bind- 
ing," and bankers and lawyers were not 
eligible to membership. The work of this 
society in 1896 was in line with that of the 
Silver Knights of America and the Patriots 
of America, east of the Mississippi, where 
they conducted a secret campaign based on 
mystic rites which bound novitiates to vote 
for "free silver." 

Guards of Liberty. — One among the 
many American orders which sprung up in 
Pennsylvania and New York between 1845 
and 1855, and were ultimately carried into 
the Know Nothing party. The Guards 
were intended to be a strong, well-drilled 
military organization, but did not attain 
much strength. 

Indian Republican League. — Founded 
in New Jersey, in 1893, as a secret political 
club or society. Only members of the Re- 
publican party, or those in sympathy with 
that party, were eligible to membership. 



302 



JUNIOR AMERICAN PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION 



It exercised a noteworthy influence on the 
elections of 1894 and 1895, particularly in 
Essex and Passaic Counties in New Jersey. 
Freemasons, Knights of Pythias, and Elks, 
in addition to members of the Improved 
Order of Red Men, were among the or- 
ganizers. Its maximum membership was 
about 3,000. Congressman James F. Stew- 
art, Paterson, N. J., was prominent among 
those who made it prosperous. 
| Junior American Protective Asso- 
ciation. — An auxiliary of the American 
Protective Association, for boys and girls 
between the ages of fourteen and twenty- 
one. (See American Protective Associa- 
tion.) 

Junior American Protestant Asso- 
ciation. — Originally organized to train 
youths for membership in the American 
Protestant Association, an anti-Roman 
Catholic secret society. It declared its in- 
dependence in 1890, and reorganized with 
similar purposes under the title Loyal 
Knights of America. (See American Prot- 
estant Association.) 

Junior • Order, United American 
Mechanics. — Established at Philadelphia 
in 1853, a junior branch of the Order of 
United American Mechanics, membership 
in which was to prepare young Americans 
to become members of the parent order. 
The Junior Order became an independent 
secret, native American, patriotic, benefi- 
ciary organization in June, 1885, since 
which time it has retained United Ameri- 
can Mechanic characteristics, both as to 
form of government and use of emblems, 
but it is no longer a feeder to the lat- 
ter society. The Juniors of 1885 were ad- 
vised and assisted in securing legislation 
from the National Council looking to the 
separation of the two orders, by Reliance 
Council, No. 40, 0. U. A. M., Oermantown, 
Philadelphia. The word Junior, in the 
title, has, therefore, no present reference 
to the ages of the members, and the word 
"Mechanics" none to their occupations. 
The objects of the Junior Order are sub- 



stantially those of the society from which 
it sprung : 

To maintain and promote the interest of Ameri- 
cans, and shield them from the depressing effects of 
foreign competition ; to assist Americans in obtain- 
ing employment ; to encourage Americans in busi- 
ness; to establish a sick and funeral fund; to 
maintain the public school system of the United 
States of America, to prevent sectarian interfer- 
ence therewith, and uphold the reading of the Holy 
Bible therein. 

Thus far, the parallel is almost exact. 
Any white, native American, men only, 
professing a belief in a Supreme Being, and 
opposed to union of church and state, is 
eligible for membership, provided he is not 
engaged in the liquor traffic. When be- 
tween sixteen and fifty years of age, candi- 
dates are eligible to beneficiary membership; 
if over fifty years, to honorary member- 
ship only. In leaflets circulated to recruit 
members, the following declaration appears: 

Immigration must be restricted; protection to 
Americans, American institutions, and promulga- 
tion of American principles; a flag on every public 
school in the land, the Holy Bible within, and love 
of country instilled into the heart of every child ; 
principle paramount to partisan affiliation; and 
our country, right or wrong — to help it right when 
wrong ; to help it on when right. 

Elsewhere the Order publicly announces: 

We are a political organization inasmuch as we 
teach patriotism, love of country, and devotion to our 
country's flag. We are non-partisan, as we educate 
all to think for themselves, that the exercise of the 
right of franchise will be an unbiassed result of un- 
divided convictions and preferences. 

Sick and funeral benefits are paid as 
subordinate councils may determine. The 
ritual and initiatory ceremony are described 
as " American in their teachings." One of 
the groups of emblems displays on a shield 
the hand and arm of labor bearing aloft 
the hammer of industry between the square 
and outstretched compasses of the Order 
of United American Mechanics, above 
which is "the little red schoolhouse," and 
over all an open Bible, the whole draped with 
American flags. The Junior Order has more 



KNIGHTS OF RECIPROCITY 



303 



than 160,000 members, scattered through 
nearly all the States, which is double the 
membership of the Order of United Ameri- 
can Mechanics, and has ever been conspicu- 
ously alive to all it represents. As one of 
the reservoirs of youthful native American 
sentiment during and after the Civil War, it 
gave again of what it had received twenty 
years before, and helped to revive the United 
Order, Sons of America in 1874. Its mem- 
bers in the Senior Order of Mechanics 
joined with the Brotherhood of the Union in 
1873, in organizing the Order of the Ameri- 
can Union, or United Order of Deputies, 
and in recent years # its members in the 
American Protective Association or "A. 
P. A." have been conspicuous and active. 
The principal difference between the pub- 
licly professed objects of the Junior Or- 
der of United American Mechanics and 
those of the "A. P. A." appears to be the 
latter's admission to its ranks of others than 
native Americans. A Grand Master of the 
Grand Lodge of the United States, Loyal 
Orange Institution, then chief executive 
of the American Protective Association, 
wrote of the Junior Order as follows : " I 
take great pleasure in endorsing the Junior 
Order United American Mechanics, as one 
of the grandest patriotic orders in the 
United States. Their position in defence 
of the little red schoolhouse and in favor 
of restriction of immigration and advanc- 
ing true Americanism entitles them to the 
cordial support and cooperation of every 
American citizen." 

The intimacy between the "A. P. A." 
and the Junior Order United American Me- 
chanics is indicated by the controversy at 
the National Council of the latter in 1895, 
where there was a contest between what 
was described in press and other reports of 
the meeting as "the ( A. P. A.' element 
and the conservative wing" of the Order 
over the character of an immigration bill 
to be introduced in Congress. The Junior 
Order remains first in importance and influ- 
ence among three patriotic, fraternal, bene- 



ficiary secret societies, which have had a 
continuous existence for more than half a 
century. More than either of the others 
is it responsible for the development of sen- 
timent favoring the maintenance of the 
existing system of free public schools, for 
placing the flag on the schoolhouses, for 
restricting immigration, and for antagoniz- 
ing "union of church and state." (See 
Order United American Mechanics and 
Sons of Liberty.) 

Junior Sons of America. — A branch of 
the patriotic, beneficiary, native American 
secret society, Patriotic Order of United 
Americans, founded at Philadelphia in 
1847. (See Patriotic Order, Sons of Amer- 
ica. ) 

Knights of Reciprocity. — During the 
winter of 1890 this secret political order 
was organized in Garden City, Kansas, by 
the Hon. Jesse Taylor, Hon. D. M. Frost, 
of that city, S. R. Peters, and other Repub- 
Iicans. It early attracted attention through- 
out Kansas, in Missouri, and in many other 
States. It sought to secure the perpetuity 
of the Union, just and liberal pensions to 
honorably discharged soldiers and sailors of 
the Republic, protection of American in- 
dustries, fair and equitable reciprocity be- 
tween all the nations on the American con- 
tinent, an intelligent ballot honestly cast 
and counted, and favored the disfranchis- 
ing of every citizen who offers or accepts a 
bribe to influence a ballot. Its object is 
further declared to be to teach the duties of 
citizenship, to discuss and study political 
history and economic questions that voters 
may cast intelligent ballots. The inspira- 
tion of the Knights of Reciprocity was 
a desire to counteract the influence in rural 
communities of what was regarded as a 
(i Democratic Union Labor-Farmers' Alli- 
ance" combination in politics. The Su- 
preme Lodge of the Knights of Reciprocity 
stated in one of its circulars, published in 
1891 : 

The only way for the farmers to meet the Alli- 
ance secret political society is with a secret society 



304 



KNOW NOTHING" PARTY 



the object of which shall not be to nominate men 
for office, but to assist in educating the people and 
making- them thoroughly acquainted with the wants 
of all the people and the fallacies of the alliance 
" calamity " howlers, who are traveling from State 
to State, county to county, town to town, town- 
ship to township, schoolhouse to schoolhouse, not 
for the good of the people, but for the money they 
make and in hopes of political promotion. The 
people should organize at once in opposition to this 
gigantic scheme. 

It is doubtful whether the Knights of 
Keciprocity ever equalled the Farmers' Alli- 
ance in membership. The former claimed 
126,000 members in 1895, and has not ex- 
ceeded that total. Its lodges spread from 
Kansas to Missouri, Iowa, Ohio, Arkansas, 
Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, North 
and South Carolina, in all of which States 
the Alliance is also strong. Founders of the 
Knights of Reciprocity were members of 
the Masonic Fraternity, the Odd Fellows, 
and Knights of Pythias. There is a bene- 
ficiary branch of the order, membership in 
which is not restricted as to sex. The 
ritual is based on the Golden Rule, as might 
be supposed, and teaches equality, fair deal- 
ing and the desirability of reciprocal trade 
relations both at home and abroad. 

" Know Nothing' " Party. — A secret, 
oath-bound organization which played a 
prominent part in American politics from 
1851 to 1856, when it dropped its secret 
character and became known as the Ameri- 
can party. It was defeated in the presidential 
campaign of 1856 and finally disappeared, 
most of its remaining members finding 
temporary refuge in the Constitutional 
Union party of 1860. Its real title has 
always been a subject of controversy, the 
name of the society having long been jeal- 
ously guarded as one of its secrets. Judg- 
ing from data obtained from widely different 
sources, it would seem that its name, in 
whole or in part, or at various times, must 
have been the Supreme Order of the Sons 
of Seventy-six, the Sons of Seventy-six or 
the Star Spangled Banner, or the Order of 
Uncle Sam. Each of these titles has been 



referred to in recent years by surviving ex- 
members, or by others familiar with the 
political campaigns between 1850 and 1856, 
as the real or secret name of the Know 
Nothing party. 

This society was organized at New York 
city in 1851 — as recalled by Henry Baldwin, 
of the " Library Americana," New Haven, 
Conn. — by a man named Taylor, or Tailor, 
not actively associated with any of the polit- 
ical parties of the time. He began the work 
of recruiting members among his friends, but 
met with indifferent success. In 1852 some 
of the members of the New York city or- 
ganization, the Order of United Americans, 
took an interest in the project and found 
much suggestive of political possibilities. 
It cost nothing to acquire or hold member- 
ship ; there were no beneficiary features, no 
stated meetings, and no provision was 
needed for room rent. No dues were 
charged, because voluntary contributions 
were relied on for support. The society was 
called together when occasion required at a 
private house or in some lodge room after 
the lodge had adjourned, and at each meet- 
ing a collection was taken to defray ex- 
penses. Meetings of the new Order were 
held almost every evening and constant 
additions were made to the membership. 
In four months about 1,000 persons were 
enrolled. It became necessary to have a 
place for general assemblages, and a large 
hall on Broadway was hired where weekly 
meetings were held and from 600 to 800 
members attended. The constitution was 
revised, and a national system with State 
and subordinate Councils was organized. 
Councils were formed in all the wards of 
the city and then in the interior of the 
State, after which they were organized in 
the adjoining States. By September, 1855, 
the Order was placed in every State and 
Territory throughout the Union. Native 
Americanism and anti-Roman Catholicism 
were its distinguishing characteristics. 

The potato rot in Ireland in 1847, and 
the revolutionary movement in continental 



KNOW NOTHING" PARTY 



305 



Europe in 1848, sent thousands of Eoman 
Catholics to this country. Competition 
for work with native Americans became 
keener and great prominence was given 
alleged designs of the . Eoman Catholic 
church in the United States, both of 
which brought recruits to the new secret 
political party. When asked as to its name 
and objects, members of the society usually 
replied, "I know nothing about them/' 
whence the name, the "Know Nothings/' 
When the Whig party went to pieces in 
1854, many of its members, particularly at 
the South, not being willing to join the 
Democracy or the Free Soil wing thereof, 
found a refuge in the new native American 
secret organization, and so helped to build 
up its political fortunes. It began as did 
the American Protective Association, or 
"A. P. A.," thirty-five years later, by 
throwing the weight of its political strength 
to selected candidates on the tickets of the 
two great political parties, and as the Whigs 
and Democrats were evenly matched, in 
many instances the new organization was 
found to hold the balance of power.* 

It was during the period 1852-56 that the 
Junior Order, United American Mechan- 
ics was organized by the original Order of 
United American Mechanics to train Ameri- 
can youths in nativism and other principles 
professed by it, and it was from the Order 
of United American Mechanics, founded in 
1845, the Patriotic Order, United Sons of 
America, organized prior to 1847, the Broth- 
erhood of the Union, established in 1850, to- 

* In 1854 it carried Massachusetts and Delaware 
in the State elections, and in 1855 it swept New 
Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Con- 
necticut, New York, Maryland. Kentucky, and 
California, and elected its candidate for Land Com- 
missioner in Texas. In the last named State, as 
well as in Virginia, Georgia, Alabama. Mississippi, 
and Louisiana, it only lacked a comparatively few 
votes of choosing its whole ticket. At this time 
and in 1856 the wave of nativism was at flood tide. 
The ebb came immediately afterward. — Nativism 
in Politics, by Charles M. Harvey, in the St. Louis 
Globe-Democrat, February 24, 1895. 
2) 



gether with the Order of United Americans, 
New York, 1844, that the Know Nothing- 
party drew many members and its inspira- 
tion. To the first three named and to the 
Junior Order of United American Mechan- 
ics the nation is indebted for continuous 
organized effort in behalf of restricted im- 
migration, the flag on public schoolhouses, 
the propaganda for the maintenance of the 
Bible in the schools, opposition to union of 
church and state, and anti-Roman Catho- 
lic sentiment generally — all these having 
been rescued at the death of the Know 
Nothing party, and carried forward in secret 
society council chamber, and camp, to a 
much more recent period in American pol- 
itics. The wave which the Know Nothing- 
party as a secret society set in motion, 
gathered so much momentum that it was 
some time before it broke and finally dis- 
appeared in the non-secret American party 
of 1856, but although its secret character 
was gone, it still retained its hostility to 
Roman Catholicism and the dominance of 
aliens.* 

* it held a convention on February 22, 185G, Wash- 
ington's birthday, and had as one of its watchwords 
that apocryphal command of Washington at the 
darkest crisis of the Revolutionary struggle, "Put 
none but Americans on guard to-night." Twenty- 
seven of the thirty-one States (Maine, Vermont, 
South Carolina, and Georgia only being absent) 
were represented. The convention was presided 
over by Ephraim Marsh of New Jersey, and it 
adopted a platform of sixteen planks, the most dis- 
tinctive of which were: "Americans must rule 
America, and to this end native-born citizens should 
be selected for all State, Federal, and municipal 
offices of government employment, in preference 
to all others." "No person should be selected for 
political station, whether of native or foreign birth, 
who recognizes any allegiance or obligation of any 
description to any foreign prince, potentate, or 
power," etc. " A change in the laws of naturaliza- 
tion, making a continued residence of twenty-one 
years, of all not heretofore provided for, requisite 
for citizenship hereafter," etc. " Opposition to any 
union between church and state," etc. "Opposi- 
tion to the reckless and unwise policy of the present 
Administration in the general management of our 
national affairs, and more especially as shown in 



306 



LADIES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 



It nominated ex-President Millard Fill- 
more of New York for President, and 
Andrew J. Donaldson of Tennessee for 
Vice-President, after delegates from New 
England and Ohio, and part of those from 
Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Iowa had with- 
drawn because of the defeat of a declara- 
tion favoring the exclusion of slavery from 
territory north of latitude 36° 30'. The 
seceding delegates nominated John C. Fre- 
mont of California for President, and four 
mouths later the nomination was endorsed 
by the Republicans.* 

From the time of the defeat of Fillmore 
nativism as a factor declined, and was 
finally swallowed up at the call to arms in 
defence of the Union. Remaining members 
drifted into the Constitutional Union party 
in 1860, the last appearance of the Know 
Nothing party as a separate political party. 
(See Order United American Mechanics ; 
Order of United Americans ; Patriotic Or- 
der, Sons of America ; Brotherhood of the 
Union; and Junior Order, United American 
Mechanics. 

Ladies of Abraham Lincoln. — A pa- 
triotic, Protestant secret society of women, 
organized for social and to some extent for 

removing ' Americans/ and conservatives in princi- 
ple, from office, and placing foreigners and ultra- 
ists in their places. " — Ibid. 

*In the election Fillmore received 874,534 votes, 
as compared with 1,341,264 for Fremont, Republi- 
can, and 1,838,169 for Buchanan, Democrat. His 
vote was 124,604 in New York, 82,175 in Pennsyl- 
vania, 67,416 in Kentucky, 66,178 in Tennessee, 
60,310 in Virginia, 48,524 in Missouri, 47,460 in 
Maryland, and smaller in other States. Every 
State in the Union gave him some votes. In New 
England it was comparatively small, the Republi- 
can wave in that section virtually sweeping Know 
Nothingism out of existence. Relatively to popula- 
tion the greater part of his strength was in the 
South, where he got a large portion of the vote of 
the defunct Whig party. He secured only eight 
electoral votes, however, those of Maryland. Fill- 
more's popular vote was' the largest ever polled by 
a "third" party candidate, except by James B. 
Weaver in 1892, whose total that year was 1,041,028. 
— Ibid. 



political purposes. The influence of the 
Loyal Orange Association was shown in it. 
Its membership and branches were never 
numerous and it is now dormant, if not 
^practically extinct. 

^ Lady True Blues. — Name by which 
the women's auxiliary of the Loyal Orange 
Association in Canada is known. (See the 
latter. ) 

Lady True Blues of the World. — A se- 
cret society of women, having objects much 
the same as those of the Loyal Women of 
American Liberty. It had quite a vogue 
among women sympathizers with the pa- 
triotic Protestant secret and non-secret 
orders which were established in the two 
decades following the Civil War. (See Loyal 
Women of American Liberty ; Ladies of 
Abraham Lincoln, and Patriotic League of 
the Eevolution.) 

Loyal Knights of America. — Founded 
at Wilkesbarre, Pa., in 1890, by the se- 
cession of the Junior American Protestant 
Association from the American Protestant 
Association. It is, like the parent organ- 
ization, a strongly anti-Roman Catholic 
secret society, but has a comparatively small 
membership. (See American Protestant 
Association.) 

Loyal Men of American Liberty. — 
Founded at Boston, in 1890, with fifty 
members. Its objects may be inferred from 
its title. It is presumed to have been in 
sympathy with the spirit of Americanism 
which has been prominent in party politics 
since its birth. Nothing is known of its 
career, or whether it still exists. 

Loyal Orange Institution. — A British 
political secret society, to which only Prot- 
estants are eligible, organized into lodges 
at Armagh, Ireland, in 1795, just after the 
battle of the Diamond, one hundred and 
five years after William III., Prince of 
Orange, led European Protestantism against 
James II. at the battle of Boyne. The ob- 
jects of the society are not only to champion 
the religious issues which William, Prince 
of Orange, represented, but to encourage 



LOYAL ORANGE ASSOCIATION 



307 



loyalty to the occupant of the British throne 
so long as he or she shall remain of the 
Protestant faith; to support and defend the 
British Government and to maintain the in- 
tegrity of the United Kingdom of Great 
Britain and Ireland. In the United States, 
the only country other than the British Em- 
pire in which the organization has an exist- 
ence, its objects are to promote civil and re- 
ligious liberty and loyalty to the United 
States. In some respects the Association in 
the United States parallels or is paralleled 
by a number of the more conspicuous patri- 
otic orders, of which the American Protec- 
tive Association, the Junior Order of United 
American Mechanics, and the Patriotic Or- 
der, Sons of America are illustrations. (See 
the latter.) The battle of the Diamond in 
1795 was an outcome of the constant war- 
fare between the Roman Catholic Ribbon- 
men and the Protestant Peep-o'-Day Boys, 
which had raged for years. The Protestant 
and Roman Catholic peasantry were fre- 
quently embroiled long prior to 1795, and 
it is doubtful whether the crystallization of 
the Irish Protestant movement into a politi- 
cal secret society tended to render conflicts 
between the two parties less frequent. 

Blood was she'd at a fight between the 
Orange and Catholic Associations in the 
north of Ireland in 1828, and on July 12, 
1829, the anniversary of the battle of Boyne, 
the military was called out to suppress 
a similar disturbance. A Parliamentary 
investigation revealed numerous Orange 
Lodges attached to Irish regiments in 1836, 
whereupon the Imperial Grand Master, 
Duke of Cumberland, felt compelled to dis- 
solve the Association in Ireland, but it was 
revived nine years later. When the Prince 
of Wales visited the Canadian Dominion in 
1860, where the Loyal Orange Institution 
had been established since 1829, he was 
greeted by them enthusiastically and sev- 
eral efforts were made to induce him to pass 
under arches decorated with Orange em- 
blems, which, a chronicler says, His Royal 
Highness diplomatically refraine.d from 



doing. On July 12, 1871, parading Orange- 
men in New York city were attacked by 
Irish Roman Catholics, and the riot which 
resulted was suppressed by the military only 
after the loss of sixty lives. 
" As the first certificates of membership in 
the original Armagh Orange Lodge were 
signed by James Sloan, it is believed that was 
the name of the first Master of the Lodge as 
well as of one of the founders of the secret 
form of the Association. An Orange Grand 
Master in the Dominion of Canada writes 
that a few of the original members of the 
Association one hundred years ago may have 
belonged to the ''Masonic Order," but he 
declares it was organized without assistance 
from any other society. It is also related, 
but with how much authority is not known, 
that the society was founded by Thomas 
Wilson, "a clandestine Mason," in Dyou, 
County of Tyrone, on the estate of Lord 
Calladon. As the organization of the Asso- 
ciation preceded the formation of lodges, 
it is probable that both accounts are true, 
and that Sloan was a follower of Wilson. 
The period at which Orange lodges were 
founded was that in which the Odd Fellows, 
Foresters, Druids, Shepherds, Gardeners, 
and other secret, benevolent, and charitable 
fraternities were interdicted by the authori- 
ties, in the fear of conspiracies and possible 
advocacy of treason behind lodge-room 
doors. (See English Orders of Odd Fel- 
lows; Royal and Ancient Orders of Fores- 
ters; Knights of St. John and Malta, and 
the Ancient and Illustrious Order, Knights 
of Malta.) The Freemasons alone were ex- 
cepted from the British prohibition of meet- 
ings of secret societies, and it is a matter of 
record that members of Orange lodges met, 
in some instances, under the cover of bor- 
rowed Masonic warrants. Many Irish Free- 
masons were Orangemen, and, in instances, 
aided in carrying the newly-founded, secret 
association through the troublous political 
period in which it was born. Freemasons 
who are Orangemen easily recognize the 
marks of Masonic craftsmen in the Orange 



308 



LOYAL ORANGE ASSOCIATION 



Association, as shown by titles of officers, 
methods of recognition, the arrangement 
and sources of some Orange degrees, and 
other important particulars. 

The Orange lodge organized at Armagh in 
1795 developed a number of off shoots within 
the next few years, and in 1798 a Grand 
Lodge for Ireland was formed with Thomas 
Verner as Grand Master. From Ireland the 
Association spread to England, Scotland, 
and Wales, to the Dominion of Canada in 
1829, and subsequently to other British col- 
onies. An Orange lodge was instituted in 
the United States in 1867, and a Grand 
Lodge of the Loyal Orange Institution for 
the United States was organized in 1870. 
In Great Britain three or more lodges are 
governed directly by a District lodge and 
District lodges by County Grand lodges, 
which are subordinate to National or Pro- 
vincial Grand Lodges, these, in turn, being 
subordinate to the Imperial Grand Lodge, 
the Imperial Grand Master of which holds 
office during life with unusual powers and 
prerogatives. Five degrees are conferred, 
the first being known as Orangeman and the 
fifth as the Scarlet degree, officers being 
chosen from among members of the fifth de- 
gree. In 1795 there was only one degree, 
that of Orangeman, to which the Purple 
degree was added in 1796, and later Mark- 
man. These were supplemented with the 
Heroine of Jericho, formerly conferred in 
the United States as a" side degree ' ' for 
Boyal Arch Masons and their wives, bat 
since annulled; and the fifth or Scarlet 
degree. 

There is a collateral organization which 
meets in Chapters or Preceptories, under 
the title Koyal Black Knights of the Camp 
of Israel, to which only members of the 
Scarlet degree are eligible. The parapher- 
nalia and ritual of this branch are elaborate, 
and had their origin or inspiration in so- 
called higher Masonic degrees. The gov- 
ernment of Chapters of Black Knights par- 
allels that of the Lodges and constitutes a 
wheel within a wheel, the governing Orange 



influence. In the United Kingdom the 
Institution has exercised vast political in- 
fluence during the past fifty years, and in 
the Dominion of Canada it has also been 
identified with politics, a recent illustration 
of which was its attitude on the Manitoba 
school question. In the United States, 
where it has had an active existence for 
more than quarter of a century, it has co- 
operated with a number of the leading 
secret patriotic orders, and on December 
12, 1895, its representatives met with those 
of the American Protective Association, the 
Junior Order of United American Mechan- 
ics, and other similar bodies, in general 
convention at Washington, D. C, where a 
platform was adopted and notice given mem- 
bers of both houses of Congress as well as 
the representatives of the great political 
parties, that restricted immigration and leg- 
islation against alleged tendencies of the 
Koman Catholic church were regarded as 
essential to the welfare of the United States 
by the thousands of Americans whom those 
organizations represented. 

Orange lodges both here and abroad have 
arranged in some instances to pay sick and 
death benefits, but this feature is not con- 
spicuous. Following in the footsteps of many 
charitable and benevolent secret societies, 
auxiliary organizations composed of women 
relatives of members of Orange lodges have 
been formed in the United Kingdom, the 
British colonies, and in the United States. 
In the Dominion of Canada members of 
these sisterhoods are known as Lady True 
Blues, and in the United States the auxil- 
iary, which was founded in 1876, is entitled 
the Ladies' Loyal Orange Association. 
There are more than 15,000 members of 
the latter, and Mrs. Margaret Thompson, a 
Past Supreme Mistress of the Society, is 
credited with having founded it. A Grand 
Master of one of the Canadian provinces 
places the total membership of Orange 
lodges throughout the world in 1896 at the 
surprisingly large total 1,450,000, of which 
one-third is credited to North America, and 



LOYAL WOMEN OF AMERICAN LIBERTY 



309 



about 75,000 to the United States. This 
society, formed in honor of William III., 
King of England and Prince of Orange, 
annually celebrates as gala days the anni- 
versary of the battle of Boyne, which took 
place July 12, 1690, and the landing of Wil- 
liam III. at Torbay, November 5th in 1688. 
These celebrations are less conspicuous in 
the United Kingdom than formerly, where, 
owing to the frequent outbreaks, due to re- 
ligious animosity, public parades of the 
Institution have been prohibited. The 
Orange Institution is the oldest, with one 
exception, possibly, the largest, the best or- 
ganized and most powerful modern inter- 
national secret political organization. In 
one sense it is the parent or inspiration of a 
number of American political or patriotic 
secret societies, with which it maintains 
friendly relations and to which many of its 
members belong. 

_. , Loyal Women of American Liberty. 
—/Organized in Boston in 1888 as a semi- 
secret, patriotic, Protestant society to per- 
petuate civil and religious liberty, maintain 
separation of church and state, and to 
protest against the appropriation of public 
money for sectarian uses and y ecclesiastical 
intimidation toward citizenship or states- 
manship." Its principles also included 
declarations favoring non-sectarian, free, 
public schools, a free press, a public com- 
mittal of all candidates for elective offices 
to "American principles and institutions," 
and restricted immigration. An official 
sketch of the society thus outlines in part 
what led to its organization : 

The city's (Boston's) charitable institutions under 
a board of directors were rapidly becoming Roman- 
ized (1887). The twenty-four members of the 
school committee who had charge of the educa- 
tional interests of the city, the primary, grammar, 
high, Latin, and normal schools, were of the fol- 
lowing religious faiths : twelve Roman Catholics, 
eleven Protestants, and one Jew, who arranged all 
business in the interest of the former sect. For 
years the text-books had been submitted to the ex- 
amination of Jesuit priests and everything not 
suiting them was expurgated ; and such books as 



Dickens' Child's History of England and Miss 
Thompson's History of England were quietly re- 
moved from the schools because they contained 
articles displeasing to the inquisitors. Compe- 
tent Protestant teachers were dismissed and Roman 
Catholic teachers put in their places. All these 
things were easy to accomplish, as the standing 
committee of the School Board on nominations 
was composed of four Roman Catholics and one 
Protestant, and when nominations were made to 
the Board, all Roman Catholic members were on 
hand to vote approval, while several of the Protes- 
tant members were invariably absent. 

It is added that public discussions of the 
situation resulted in the formation of the 
Loyal Women of American Liberty, with a 
membership numbering many thousands, 
and branches throughout New England and 
in other States. Mrs. Margaret L. Shep- 
herd, Toronto, Ont., founder of the Loyal 
Protestant Women of Canada, member of 
the Lady Orange Association of British 
North America, of the Ladies of Abraham 
Lincoln and of the Lady True Blues of the 
World, most, or all of them secret, patriotic, 
Protestant societies, is regarded as the foun- 
der of the Loyal Women of American Lib- 
erty. Mrs. I. C. Manchester, Providence, 
R. I., and Mrs. General N. P. Banks, Wal- 
tliam, Mass., are the latest named National 
President and National First Vice-Presi- 
dent, respectively; Mrs. Mary Livermore of 
Boston, Second Vice-President, and Mrs. 
Stella Archer, Boston, National Secretary. 
V F r.s . Shepherd was born in India, but has 
lived most of her life in Canada and in the 
United States, where she has become known 
as "patriotic and political lecturer and 
author." Women of the Roman Catholic 
faith and Protestant or other non-Catholic 
women whose husbands are Roman Catho- 
lics are not eligible to membership in the 
Loyal Women of American Liberty, mem- 
bers of which are pledged "not to assist 
the Roman Catholic clergy or their institu- 
tions. " The Loyal Women of American 
Liberty, which may be fairly characterized 
as an American organization of Orange an- 
cestry, admits men to honorary membership. 



310 



MINUTE MEN OF 1890 



Minute Men of 189C— See Order of 
the American Union. 

Minute Men of 96. — Founded at Wash- 
ington, D. C, in 1896, by M. J. Bishop, 
General Worthy Foreman of the Knights of 
Labor of America, and A. E. Eedstone, as a 
secret, oath-bound society of industrial and 
other employes "to resist the i intimida- 
tion ' and ' coercion ' of corporations in the 
matter of voting." Bishop was G-eneral 
Commander of the Minute Men and Eed- 
stone Adjutant General. The movement 
was declared to be the outcome of an effort 
by the managers of the Bryan presidential 
campaign to control the labor vote. It was 
short lived. 

[National Assembly Patriotic League. 
— Organized in February, 1895, by seceding 
Illinois members of and in opposition to 
the American Protective Association. (See 
the latter.) 

National Order of Videttes. — This so- 
ciety was sometimes called the Order of 
Thirteen. It had "Equality, Liberty, and 
Fraternity ' ' for its motto. It was organized 
by Texas farmers during the summer of 
1886, and spread rapidly. George W. Pike 
was sent on an organizing tour through 
other States. By December it had been es- 
tablished in Indiana, Ohio, Kansas, Mis- 
souri, Iowa, and Illinois in addition to Texas. 
Its declaration of principles was as follows : 

To maintain the Declaration of Independence as 
the foundation of our principles, the preservation 
of our country from foreign influence in our mone- 
tary and land systems ; no membership with those 
who hold allegiance to any foreign power while 
claiming citizenship ; opposition to contract pauper 
immigration ; our own industries, first, last, and 
always ; our public school system shall be main- 
tained and improved ; no sectarian interference 
from any source ; no division of the public funds 
for sectarian schools ; no special privileges for any 
class, but just and equitable laws for all ; the owner- 
ship of homes ; homes for the homeless, land for 
the landless ; a complete and perfect union ; one 
government and one flag ; equal rights for all ; 
equality, fraternity — the climax of our hopes. 

The Order was organized on a military 
basis, State organizations being brigades, 



divided into regiments and companies. The 
national body held a convention of the Su- 
preme Inside Circle at St. Louis in Feb- 
ruary, 1887, and again in 1889. At the 
first, seven States were represented, and at 
the second, thirteen, with progress reported 
from five more. The membership in April, 
1888, was said to have been 500,000, but 
while it was very large, it was undoubtedly 
much smaller than that. The American 
Protective Association, founded in 1887, 
which appeared to sweep into its ranks al- 
most all active native American and anti- 
Eoman Catholic sentiment between 1888 
and 1897, is evidently responsible for the 
sudden disappearance of the National Order 
of Videttes, It was last heard of in Kan- 
sas, but is now believed to be practically ex- 
tinct. Its brief and almost meteoric career 
was based on the exploitation of sentiments 
which animate the Patrons of Husbandry, 
the Grange, and various American patriotic 
societies, in the face of the heavy immigra- 
tion between 1880 and 1885, and the promi- 
nence then given to the question of division 
of public school funds. 

Native Sons of America. — A patriotic 
secret organization which enjoyed a brief 
existence between 1850 and 1856. It was a 
result of the outburst of nativism which 
gave rise to the Know Nothing party, within 
which it is supposed to have disappeared. 

Order of American Freemen. — Or- 
ganized in Pennsylvania in 1884 by members 
of thirteen seceding lodges of the Ameri- 
can Protestant Association. A secret society 
of strongly anti-Eoman Catholic tendencies 
similar to the Loyal Orange Association. 
(See American Protestant Association.) 

Order of Native Americans. — An 
American patriotic secret society organized 
at San Jose, Cal., some years after the close 
of the Civil War, by W. J. D. Hambly, 
who prepared its ritual. It was his design 
to present, in picturesque degree work, 
America in three decades: First, before 
the Kevolutionary struggle; second, at 
some period between the Kevolutionary and 



ORDER OF UNITED AMERICAN MECHANICS 



311 



Civil Wars, and, third, during and since the 
Civil War. The lessons, charges, addresses, 
and all the secret work, including the signs, 
salutes, passwords, etc., were designed to 
teach lessons of American history. Both 
men and women were admitted to member- 
ship, and the society had the reputation 
of being made up largely of those who called 
themselves agnostics. It is not known 
whether it survives. 

Order of Uncle Sam. — See Know Noth- 
ing Party. 

Order of United American Mechan- 
ics. — A patriotic, social, fraternal, and be- 
nevolent secret association of white male 
native citizens, founded at Philadelphia, 
Pa., July 8, 1845. Only those born in 
the United States of America or under its 
flag and eighteen or more years of age, are 
eligible to membership. It " stands for the 
public school with the American flag over 
it, and against the union of church and 
state." Its professed objects are to assist 
members in business and in obtaining em- 
ployment, to aid widows and orphans of 
deceased members, to relieve the wants of 
members who may be incapable of follow- 
ing their usual vocations, to defend its ad- 
herents "from injurious competition" of 
immigrants and the government "from 
their corrupting influence." Notwithstand- 
ing this, " nothing of a political or sectarian 
character" is allowed at its convocations. 
It denies a desire "to proscribe the for- 
eigner," and "extends him a cordial wel- 
come," but demands that the immigrant 
shall keep his " hands off our rights and priv- 
ileges " until legally entitled to them.* 

Eeference to accounts of the Improved Or- 
der of Red Men, Sons of Liberty, Sons of 

* A sympathizer with the society adds : "It does 
not forget that our land should be an asylum for 
the oppressed of all nations, but claims that when 
they seek it as an asylum, they should conform 
to our customs and institutions and obey our laws, 
and not establish distinct nationalities, or seek to 
engraft any of the customs and laws of the down- 
trodden countries of the old world, and thereby 
become a stumbling-block to our national progress." 



St. Tamina, and the Society of Red Men 
will explain how the Order of United Ameri- 
can Mechanics became the residuary legatee 
of these patriotic American secret societies. 
The Sons of Liberty, 1764-83, was, first, 
a protest against British policy in the 
American colonies, and afterwards stood 
for independence. The Sons of St. Tamina, 
1771-1810, embodied the sentiments which 
made the Revolution possible, and later be- 
came the conservator of popular patriotism, 
antagonizing the threatened dominance of 
the military over civilians, the plan to cre- 
ate a dictatorship or a presidency for life, 
and the prominence of an aristocracy, fore- 
shadowed in the activity of the Tory element 
and in the Society of the Cincinnati with 
its hereditary membership and alleged un- 
republican tendencies. Tamina, or Tam- 
many, societies also sided against the for- 
eign influences in domestic politics, which 
resulted from increasing immigration toward 
the close of the last century and produced 
the alien and sedition laAvs of 1798; and 
they were active in combating what they 
believed to be the attack on true religion in 
the teachings of Paine, Rousseau, and Vol- 
taire. In this may be found the germs of 
"America for Americans," and defence of 
a Protestaut Christian faith, which in vari- 
ous forms have characterized American po- 
litical or patriotic secret societies in the last 
half century. The Society of Red Men, 
1813-32, carried forward "American- 
ism" and "defence of the country" for 
nineteen years, when the dominance of 
conviviality among its members, anti-se- 
cret society sentiment due to the anti-Ma- 
sonic agitation and other influences caused 
its death. The Improved Order of Red 
Men, which followed, exists to this day. It 
was and is a secret, charitable, and bene- 
ficiary organization without political fea- 
tures. It inherited traditions and ceremo- 
nials used by the societies named through 
members of some of them who were among 
the original Red Men in 1834. But while 
nearly all political Red Men had disappeared 



312 



ORDER OF UNITED AMERICAN MECHANICS 



in 1834, the sentiment which they created 
was still active among surviving members 
in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and 
New York.* One year later this showed 

* Nativistic feeling began to reveal itself very 
early in the career of the United States as a nation. 
In the large cities like Philadelphia and New York, 
in which the alien element early became active and 
powerful, demonstrations against it by native-born 
citizens were particularly frequent. A consider- 
able part of the immigrants to this country in the 
dozen years succeeding the close of the American 
war for independence were refugees from the 
British, islands and France. With a natural hos- 
tility to the tyranny from which they fled, both 
classes of immigrants took the side of the revolu- 
tionary regime of France which overthrew the 
Bourbons, and in the war between that regime and 
England they were against England. They sought 
to force the United States into the war on the side 
of France, but President Washington wisely de- 
cided on a course of rigid neutrality between the 
combatants, and established the principle which 
has been consistently adhered to by the country 
ever since, of non-interference in the old world's 
quarrels. Washington, though not a rabid par- 
tisan, was a Federalist in his convictions and sym- 
pathies, and he was backed by that party — the 
party of Hamilton, Adams, Pickering, and the 
Pinckneys — in this policy, as in all others of his 
administration. The opposing organization, which 
was first called anti-Federalist, which Jefferson 
desired to be termed Republican, which was offi- 
cially designated Democratic-Republican from 1793 
to 1828, which has been known as Democratic ever 
since, and which at that period had for its leaders 
Jefferson, Madison, and Edmund Randolph, fa- 
vored interference by the United States in behalf of 
France. The Democratic-Republicans called the 
Federalists monarchists, and these retorted by 
stigmatizing the others as Jacobins. Balked in 
their purpose to involve this country in a war 
against England, the refugees violently assailed 
the Administration, and the Federalists retaliated 
by passing the alien and sedition laws in 1798, in 
Adams's term in the Presidency. The alien laws 
lengthened the period of residence for naturaliza- 
tion from five to fourteen years and armed the 
President with power to send any alien deemed 
dangerous to the public peace out of the country, 
while the sedition act imposed heavy penalties for 
any scandalous attacks, written or printed, on Con- 
gress or the President. The Democratic-Repub- 
licans fiercely attacked this legislation, and, aided 
by the quarrels of Adams and Hamilton, they 



itself in the appearance at New York 
of a non-secret, native American polit 
party, and in 1837 there was a similar mani- 
festation at Philadelphia, both of which 

overthrew the Federal party in 1800, and that 
organization never won another national battle. 
These events determined the partisan leanings of 
the aliens. They swore eternal enmity to the 
Federal party and eternal fealty to the Republican. 
From that time onward, almost to our day, the 
great bulk of the foreigners have been against the 
Federalists and ' their successors, the National Re- 
publicans, Whigs and Republicans, and have been 
on the side of the Democratic-Republicans and 
their progeny, the Democrats. The exceptions to 
this rule have been among the Germans of the 
West in the past third of a century, and the Scan- 
dinavians in the same section, who have been a 
later addition to the country's population. Of 
each of these elements a majority in the Western 
States have always been Republicans. 

By usually throwing their weight on the same 
side of the scale, the Democratic side, the aliens 
decided elections, commanded "recognition" and 
secured important offices. As they were, as a 
class, the most ignorant, turbulent, and corrupt 
element of the population, they brought misgovern- 
ment, scandal, and general political demoraliza- 
tion. Then the native-born citizens, chiefly in the 
large cities, in which the aliens were most numer- 
ous and active, started to combine against them, 
and nativistic demonstrations began. In 1823 
tales of dark designs by Roman Catholic European 
nations on the political and religious liberty of the 
United States began to be heard in this country and 
found ready credence in some quarters* Then the 
anti-alien sentiment took on an anti-Catholic phase, 
and this it has largely retained to the present day. 
— Nativism in Politics, by Charles M. Harvey, in 
the St. Louis "Globe-Democrat," February 24, 1895. 

Mr. Henry Baldwin, custodian of the Library 
Americana, New Haven, writes : "In 1834 the 
' Letters of Brutus ' were published in the New 
York ' Observer.' They purported to give an 
exposition of a ' conspiracy to destroy the United 
States,' acting through an organization at Vienna, 
Austria, called the 'St. Leopold's Foundation,' 
which had the Emperor Ferdinand V. as its patron ; 
his Prime Minister, Prince Metternich, as its presi- 
dent, and Bishop Fenwick of Cincinnati as its 
American agent. Doubtless the publication of 
these letters led to the organization of the native 
American party in the following year, the antag- 
onism of the Roman Catholic Irish and interfer- 
ence at public meetings of Americans, which finally 



ORDER OF UNITED AMERICAN MECHANICS 



313 



were short lived. The spirit which animated 
earlier non-secret, native American party 
outgivings is shown by the following extract 
from a preamble and constitution adopted 
at Germantown, Philadelphia, in 1837: 

While at the same time we invite the stranger, 
worn down by oppression at home, to come and 
share with us the blessings of our native land and 
here find an asylum for his distress and partake of 
the plenty a kind Providence has so bountifully 
given us, we deny his right (hereby meaning as 
foreigners any emigrant who may hereafter arrive 
in our country) to have a voice in our legislative 
hall, or his eligibility to office under any circum- 
stances, and we ask a repeal of that naturalization 
law which, it must be apparent to every reflecting 
mind, to every true son of America, has become 
an evil. 

It would be difficult at this distance to 
trace accurately the influence, if any, of the 
introduction into the United States in 1836 
of the Eoman Catholic charitable and be- 
nevolent secret society, the Ancient Order 
of Hibernians, but in view of the promi- 
nence, a few years later, of antagonism to 
alleged designs of Eoman Catholics on the 
public school system, the appearance here, in 
1836, of lodges of the Order of Hibernians is 
not devoid of significance. During the next 
two or three years little was heard of non- 
secret or secret political organizations, but 
increasing immigration, particularly at Phil- 
adelphia and New York, soon revived con- 
ditions favorable to them. For some years 
riot and disorder at the cities named had 
been directed against or caused by negroes, 
but by 1843-44 the increased number of 
naturalized citizens and other foreign-born 
residents, their prominence in political cir- 
cles and suspected intention of making 
political rewards depend upon nationality 
rather than merit, aroused a feeling an- 
tagonistic to foreigners. Native American 
parties again appeared at Philadelphia and 
at New York in 1843 and gained sufficient 

culminated in the Kensington riots at Philadelphia. 
Public meetings being impracticable, Americans 
assembled secretly and formed the first of the 
American political societies." 



strength to elect James Harper mayor against 
the combined Democratic, which included 
the foreign element, and Whig vote. Mr. 
Harper will also be recalled as the founder 
of the publishing house of Harper Brothers. 
In the following year this new political party 
disappeared, notwithstanding the fact that 
by 1844-45 not only " nativism/' but an- 
tagonism to the alleged designs of Eoman 
Catholics had become distinct political 
issues. The claim was made that Eoman 
Catholics in some States demanded privileges 
in regard to the education of children of 
Catholic parents in the public schools " cal- 
culated to arouse animosity among Protes- 
tants.'' In New York it was declared that 
the demand on behalf of the Eoman Catho- 
lics was that the reading of the Bible, ac- 
cording to the King James version, should 
be prohibited in the public schools. These 
circumstances brought in sectarianism and 
gave an impetus to the Native American 
party idea, which a mere protest against 
naturalized foreigners being allowed to vote 
would never have furnished. Although the 
New York native American party failed in 
L844 to repeat its success of 1843, a similar 
organization at Philadelphia, in 1844, found 
lodgment in almost every ward of that city. 
Late in 1844, while the mercantile and 
manufacturing interests of the Quaker City 
were suffering from trade depression, a great 
many immigrants arrived, most of them 
Germans, and many in a destitute condi- 
tion. American workmen, in many in- 
stances, were discharged, and "green- 
horns," as the immigrants were termed, 
employed in their places at nominal com- 
pensation. Smarting under this, Luther 
Chapin, Richard G. Howell, George Tucker, 
Ethan Briggs, John Smulling, and James 
Lane had a number of conferences, at which 
it was agreed that they would in all instances 
where employment was to be obtained use 
their influence to secure places for Ameri- 
can-born workmen and that in making pur- 
chases they would patronize an American 
in preference to a foreigner. No organiza- 



314 



ORDER OF UNITED AMERICAN MECHANICS 



tion was formed at that time, but in this 
movement is found the beginning of that 
which afterward led to the formation of the 
patriotic, fraternal, and benevolent, secret 
Order of United American Mechanics. 
These men and others associated with them 
saw the advantages to be derived from or- 
ganization and obtained permission to meet 
over the rifle factory of Edward K. Tryon, 
No. 134 North Second Street, on July 4, 
1845. The conference resulted in a sub- 
scription with which to rent Jefferson Tem- 
perance Hall for a meeting to be held July 
8, to organize a protective secret society 
among American mechanics. There were 
about sixty persons present at the meeting, 
but after Luther Chapin, the presiding 
officer, had stated its object the majority 
retired, "not being favorable to secret so- 
cieties." Those remaining were Luther 
Chapin, Eichard Howell (a Freemason), 
George Tucker, Ethan Briggs, John Smull- 
ing (a Ereemason), James Lane, William 
Cummings, J. S. Sansom, J. H. Hacker, 
W. H. White, William Stevens, John A. 
Curry (a Freemason), George Stiles, J. M. 
Murray, Jacob G. Baker, Lemuel Crosby, 
Samuel T. Hays, John C. Hughes, Charles 
N. Crockett, William Simmons (a Free- 
mason), E. H. Deemer, Garrett Mitchner, 
Joseph Whitaker, John Meld rum, and 
James Turner. At a meeting held July 
15, resolutions were adopted declaring the 
objects of the new secret trades union to be 
those substantially as set forth at the begin- 
ning of this article, and the society was 
named The American Mechanics' Union. 
On July 22 the name was changed to the 
Order of United American Mechanics of the 
United States, and on July 29 a constitu- 
tion was adopted. At a meeting, August 4, 
1845, one month after the preliminary con- 
ference looking to the formation of the so- 
ciety, a ritual and an initiatory ceremony 
were adopted and arrangements were made 
to issue an address to mechanics and work- 
ingmen. Meetings were held at short in- 
tervals and the society grew rapidly in 



membership and popularity. By September 
2 application was received to form a new 
Council to be called Enterprise, No. 2. This 
was granted, and, strange to say, on Sep- 
tember 9 the mother Council, over which 
Luther Chapin, the founder, presided, de- 
clared its name to be Enterprise, No. 1. A 
charter was granted to form Perseverance 
Council, No. 3, on October 21, when it was 
also arranged to establish a system of sick 
and other benefits along lines followed, and 
no doubt suggested by the Independent Or- 
der of Odd Fellows, the Improved Order of 
Eed Men and the United Order of Druids. 
A State Council was formed November 13, 

1845, after which the chartering of sub- 
ordinate Councils was more rapid. Luther 
Chapin was the first presiding officer of the 
Pennsylvania State Council and as well of 
the National Council, organized July 3, 

1846, when the society was one year old. 
Among the earlier proceedings the follow- 
ing from the records of the State Council 
of Pennsylvania, November 16, 1849, is 
worthy of a place here: 

Whereas, The Order of Odd Fellows and Sons of 
Temperance are about to contribute a block of 
marble towards the erection of the Washington 
Monument at Washington, and 

Whereas, The Order of United American Me- 
chanics, being of a more national character than 
either of the above named, it becomes their especial 
duty, as it may well be their pride, to contribute 
their mite in the erection of a testimonial of esteem 
to the Father of their Country ; 

Therefore, be it Resolved, That a committee of 
three be appointed to solicit contributions from 
subordinate Councils, and to procure a suitable 
block of marble, with the emblem of the order 
sculptured thereon. 

The society soon spread to New Jersey 
and Delaware. It has always been strong in 
Pennsylvania. Originally intended for and 
made up exclusively of operative mechan- 
ics and workingmen, general interest in its 
principles and purposes resulted in a radi- 
cal change soon after it was formed, and it 
has since been an order of native-born 
Americans from every profession and calling, 



ORDER OF UNITED AMERICAN MECHANICS 



315 



with no trades union affiliations or de- 
sire to interfere in disputes between capi- 
tal and labor. The society's Councils are 
found in twenty-one States and it numbers 
more than 60,000 members. 

The square and compasses among its em- 
blems, which also include the American 
flag and the hand and arm of labor wield- 
ing a hammer, suggest Masonic influence. 
Among the twenty-five gentlemen who as- 
sisted at the founding of the order, on July 
8, 1845, four, as noted, Smulling, Cumrnings, 
Simmons, and Curry, were Freemasons. 
Hughes became a member of the fraternity 
in 1849, Hay in 1850, Howell in 1851 and 
Stiles in 1853, for which information the 
writer is indebted to the courtesy of the Sec- 
retary of the Grand Lodge of Ancient Free 
and Accepted Masons of Pennsylvania. Yet 
it was quite natural to utilize representations 
of the square and compasses in the original 
organization, which was one of mechanics 
and workingmen. The Ancient Order of 
United Workmen, a purely beneficiary se- 
cret society formed in 1864, also presents the 
square and compasses among its emblems, 
and cannot plead coincidence with equal 
propriety, as that fraternity was the creation 
of one man and he a Freemason and it 
never was composed exclusively of mechan- 
ics or laboring men. 

The patriotic American secret societies, 
the United Order, Sons of America, formed 
in Philadelphia in 1847 ; the Brotherhood 
of the Union, 1850, and the Sons of 76, 
or the Order of the Star Spangled Banner 
(which became the secret native American 
party of 1852-54, better known as the Know 
Nothing party), all find a direct or an 
indirect origin or inspiration in the Order 
of United American Mechanics and all ex- 
cept the Know Nothing party are alive to- 
day. Members of the last named found 
refuge after its defeat in some of the others 
and in the Constitutional Union, non-secret, 
political party, which was born and died 
just prior to the outbreak of the Civil War. 
Nearly all the members of the Order of 



United American Mechanics, of the Broth- 
erhood of the Union, and of the United 
Order, Sons of America affiliated with the 
Know Nothing party, but the Sons of Amer- 
ica was fairly absorbed by it and therefore 
lost its identity in 1660-61, when the war 
drew attention away from questions which 
had dominated the campaigns of 1852 and 
1856. 

After the war, members of the Orders 
of Mechanics, the Brotherhood of the 
Union, and others, revived the Sons of 
America and it is to them, as conservators 
of nativism, defenders of the public school 
system, as it is, and as opponents of possible 
attempts at union between church and state, 
that the domestic patriotic secret societies 
of the past twenty years, directly or indi- 
rectly, owe their existence. 

Among the latter, patterned more or less 
after the four which have come down to 
us through the last half century, are the 
Order of the American Union, formed 
in 1873 ; the Templars of Liberty, 1881 ; 
the Patriotic League of the Revolution, 
1882 ; the American Protective Associa- 
tion, better known as the "A. P. A.," 

1887 ; the American Patriot League, 1888 ; 
the Loyal Women of American Liberty, 

1888 ; the Protestant Knights of America, 
1895 ; and the Order of the Little Red 
School House, 1895. 

Women's, or men's and women's aux- 
iliaries of some of these associations have 
been successful in cooperating, not only to 
propagate peculiar or special views held, 
but in rendering more attractive the so- 
cial side of the organizations. Prominent 
among such are the Daughters of Liberty, 
auxiliary to it, and the Junior Order of 
United American Mechanics ; Daughters of 
America, also affiliated with the Junior Or- 
der ; the Women's Historical Society, with 
the American Protective Association, and 
the Daughters of Columbia, connected with 
the American Patriot League. In order to 
bring the genealogical tree of the family of 
American patriotic secret societies down to 



316 



ORDER OF UNITED AMERICAN MECHANICS 



date it is necessary to add the names of 
some of the more important which, whether 
patriotic merely, or patriotic and political, 
or whether having a partisan, political rea- 
son for existence, are, nevertheless, the off- 
spring directly or indirectly of the four 
which have come down from the middle of 
the century and which through earlier, 
similar societies, date back .to the decade 
prior to the War of the Eevolution. Con- 
spicuous among them were the now extinct 
Knights of the Golden Circle, with its revo- 
lutionary designs prior to and during the 
Civil War ; the Ku-Klux-Klan, which fol- 
lowed the Civil War ; the Southern politi- 
cal, agricultural secret association known 
as the Wheel, which gave birth in 1867 to 
the Grange, and it, in 1880, to the Farmers'' 
Alliance, after which may be named the 
Knights of Reciprocity, 1890 ; the (mod- 
ern) Sons of Liberty, which is extinct ; 
the Indian Republican League, 1893 ; 
American Knights of Protection, 1894 ; 
Protestant Knights of America, 1895 ; the 
National Assembly, Patriotic League, a 
schismatic branch of the "A. P. A.," 1895 ; 
the Patriots of America, 1895, and the 
Silver Knights of America, 1896, organ- 
ized to carry on a free-coin age-of-silver 
propaganda, and, finally, the Silver Ladies 
of America, formed in 1896. 

The Junior Order of United American 
Mechanics was organized in 1853 as a 
juvenile branch of the parent Mechanics, 
to admit youths and train them to become 
members of the latter on arriving at the 
required age. But by 1885 the Junior or- 
der became so strong and its membership so 
large, that it terminated its dependent rela- 
tionship and became what it has since re- 
mained, an independent, patriotic, frater- 
nal, secret society, with name, emblems, 
objects and principles like those of the 
Order of United American Mechanics. Its 
membership is nearly 200,000, much more 
than twice that of the parent organization. 

The men and women's auxiliary to the 
Order of United American Mechanics, 



known as the Daughters of Liberty, origi- 
nated with Columbia Council at Meriden, 
Conn., in January, 1875. It was designed 
merely to assist Columbia Council in its 
work, but its usefulness was such that in a 
short time Councils of Daughters of Lib- 
erty were instituted at Bridgeport and New 
Haven, Conn., whence they spread to New 
Jersey, New York, Massachusetts and a 
dozen other States. All members of Coun- 
cils of the Order of United American Me- 
chanics in good standing, and any native- 
born American white woman of sixteen years 
of age or over, are eligible to membership. 
There are more than 30,000 members of 
Councils of Daughters of Liberty. The ob- 
jects of the auxiliary society are to promote 
social intercourse, seek mutual improve- 
ment, to visit the sick and distressed, 
" perpetuate American principles in con- 
junction with the Order of United American 
Mechanics, and to promote the happiness and 
prosperity of the Order in general." 

The funeral benefit department of the 
parent order is in the hands of individual 
Councils. It provides for the payment, by 
means of assessments, of $300 at the deaths 
of those entitled to the same. There is 
also an insurance department, controlled 
by the National Council and an Advisory 
Board, providing for payments of $1,000 to 
legal representatives of deceased members. 
The benefit fund is provided for by assess- 
ments on those who choose to take ad- 
vantage of this feature of the work of the 
Order. 

The Loyal Legion of United American 
Mechanics is its uniformed division. It 
was established by the National Council in 
1886, and in addition to handsome uni- 
forms, an elaborate drill and sword manual, 
it has an organization of its own, with 
ritual and ceremonials not entirely disasso- 
ciated from like appendages to the Indepen- 
dent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of 
Pythias and the Foresters of America, all 
of which have been in part the outcome of 
a spirit of emulation of Masonic Knights 



ORDER OF THE AMERICAN UNION 



317 



Templars. Next to the Improved Order 
of Eed Men,, which traces its ancestry back 
into the eighteenth century, exclusive of the 
Sons of Temperance, founded at New York 
city in 1842, and of a number of the better 
known college, or Greek-letter, fraternities, 
the Order of United American Mechanics 
remains the oldest existing secret society of 
domestic origin. 

Order of the American Shield. — See 
Order of the American Union. 

Order of the American Star. — A 
native American secret society formed at 
New York city in 1853-54. Also known as 
Templars Order, etc.; Free and Accepted 
Americans, originally as True Brethren, 
and afterwards as Wide Awakes. (See 
Templars Order of the American Star, 
etc.) 

Order of the American Union. — 
Formed in New York city, in 1873, by the 
union of the Order of the American Shield, 
a Ninth Ward patriotic secret society, and a 
similar organization from the east side of the 
city, of which Dr. J. G. Wilson and Andrew 
Powell were the respective heads, under the 
title as given above. Its objects were to 
preserve constitutional liberty and maintain 
the government of the United States ; an- 
tagonism to religio-political organizations, 
particularly-" the Roman hierarchy ;" oppo- 
sition to the appointment of men to public 
office who owe allegiance to any foreign 
potentate or power and to the appropriation 
of public funds for any sectarian purpose, 
and the maintenance of nnsectarian free 
schools. The Union is described as having 
been " very secret," and its total maximum 
membership, about 1890, is said to have 
been nearly 1,500,000. There were no 
beneficiary or insurance features, and, as 
may be presumed, only Protestants were 
eligible to membership. It was not usual 
to hold regular or stated meetings, and the 
subject of dues was, therefore, insignificant, 
in view of which it is probable the estimate of 
total available membership is overstated. In 
1878 or 1879, what w r as alleged to have 



been an expose of the Order was published, 
which caused it to disintegrate rapidly; but 
it was reorganized in 1881 and renewed its 
former prosperity under various titles, among 
them the United Order of Deputies and the 
-Minute Men of 1890. Like the American 
Patriot League and other patriotic orders 
of late years, the Order of the American 
Union w T as finally practically absorbed by 
the American Protective Association. Its 
present existence is believed to be in name 
only. 

Order of the Little Red School 
House. — Founded at Boston, in August, 
1895, by members of the American Protec- 
tive Association, and others, one of the 
fruits, apparently, of the riot at East Bos- 
ton, July 4, 1895, in which American 
Protective Association paraders and non- 
sympathetic spectators were engaged. The 
first branch was known as Boston Tea Party 
School, No. 1, and Schools in each State 
were to be governed by a Seminary, as the 
State organization was to be called. The 
names of the new patriotic Order's chief 
officers were, respectively, Dominie, Usher, 
Monitor, Critic, Cryer, etc., and its ritual 
was announced to be one of the most elabo- 
rate of like modern societies. It sought to 
educate the young, to inspire the hearts of 
loyal men and women both in school and at 
the fireside with a greater love for "Old 
Glory," a grander reverence for the " Little 
Ked School House," and to spread abroad the 
sentiments, America for Americans and no 
foreign interference. 

The Order welcomed all, whether Ameri- 
can or alien, black or white, Jew or 
Gentile, Catholic or Mohammedan, if 
they could "stand shoulder to shoulder 
with us and take our solemn oath." Devo- 
tion to the American flag and American 
institutions was to characterize its demand 
of applicants. This new patriotic Order, 
has had only a moderate growth, mostly in 
the New England States. 

Order of United Americans. — One of 
the earlier of the native American, patriotic, 



318 



ORDER OF THE LITTLE RED SCHOOL HOUSE 



secret organizations which sprung into ex- 
istence in the decade following the election 
of James Harper as mayor of New York city 
on a native American ticket in 1843. It 
was founded at New York city in 1844 by 
Eussell C. Eoot and thirteen associates, who 
established Alpha Chapter, No. 1, of the 
American Brotherhood, as the society was 
then called. Pioneer Chapter, No. 1, of 
New Jersey was organized in 1848, but 
Hancock Chapter, No. 1, of Massachusetts 
was at work as early as 1845. The original 
chapter in Connecticut was Eoger Sherman, 
No. 1, and that in Pennsylvania, Keystone, 
No. 1. The strength of the movement may 
be inferred from the planting of Eureka 
Chapter in California as early as 1850. In 
1851 and 1852 the Order was popular and 
grew in membership rapidly. It published 
a magazine during the years named which, 
in December, 1852, reported sixty-two chap- 
ters of the Order of United Americans in New 
York State, fourteen in New Jersey, five in 
Connecticut, and one in Massachusetts. Its 
system of naming chapters would suggest 
the presence of college fraternity men among 
the gentlemen who, at the residence of Mr. 
Root on Second Avenue, New York, De- 
cember 21, 1844, established Alpha Chap- 
ter, No. 1. But it is even more likely that 
leaders in the Order had been members of 
the political society of Red Men which died 
a dozen years before ; or of Tammany Hall, 
New York city, an outgrowth from the 
same organizations which produced the 
Society of Red Men. The Order of United 
Americans, as it soon came to be known, is 
practically extinct, but until quite recently, 
members of Washington Chapter, New 
York city, of which Charles E. G-ilder- 
sleeve is or was Sachem, met regularly to 
celebrate Washington's birthday and renew 
old friendships. Members of the Order 
were early to discover the political possibili- 
ties of a new political, secret society, that 
which ultimately became known as the 
Know Nothing party, and took a prominent 
part in building up that marvellous political 



engine. (See Know Nothing party ; also 
Order United American Mechanics.) 

Order of United Americans. — A re- 
cently formed patriotic and beneficiary so- 
ciety for men and women. The first annual 
convention of its Grand Temple was held 
at Philadelphia in 1897, at which delegates 
were present from various points in Penn- 
sylvania and New Jersey. 

Patriotic Daughters of America. — 
A patriotic, social, secret society formed in 
Philadelphia in 1885, a women's branch of 
or adjunct to the Patriotic Order, Sons of 
America. In 1889 this degree or branch of 
the Patriotic Order, Sons of America was 
dropped and the Patriotic Order of True 
Americans was formed to take its place, to 
which both men and women are admitted. 
(See Patriotic Order, Sons of America.) 

Patriotic League of the Revolution. 
— Organized in 1882, by Virginia Chandler 
Titcomb, at Brooklyn, N. Y. Its member- 
ship was originally composed exclusively of 
women, but men are eligible and many have 
joined. Its officers declare it in some re- 
spects a secret society to which patriotic 
Protestant Americans alone are eligible. 
Professed objects are the study of political 
questions in their historical relation and 
the collection and preservation of relics of 
the Kevolution and other events in American 
history and of people identified with the 
progress and growth of the country. 

Patriotic Order, Junior Sons of 
America. — A native American patriotic 
secret society, founded at Philadelphia, 
December 10, 1847, originally established 
as an auxiliary to the United Sons of Amer- 
ica. It survived the latter, and in 1868 or 
1870 helped revive the parent society under 
the title Patriotic Order, Sons of America. 

Patriotic Order, Sons of America. — 

A patriotic beneficiary secret society, 
founded at Philadelphia, prior to 1847, as 
the United Sons of America, by Kennel 
Coates, E. Z. C. Judson (" Ned Buntline"), 
and others, some of whom were members 
of the Order of United American Mechanics, 



PATRIOTIC ORDER, SONS OF AMERICA 



319 



a similar society organized at Philadelphia 
two years previously, all of them sympa- 
thizers with the then rapidly growing native- 
American political sentiment.* 

The parent society formed an auxiliary 
December 10, 1847, under the title Junior 
Sons of America, to which youths between 
sixteen and twenty-one years of age were 
admitted. On becoming of age the Juniors 
became Seniors, or members of the United 
Sons of America. The heat of the politi- 
cal campaign of 1852, in which the Sons 
of '76, or Order of the Star Spangled Ban- 
ner (the Know Nothing party), a secret, 
oath-bound, native American political or- 
ganization took part, evidently fused the 
United Sons of America with the Sons of 
'76, for the former disappeared w T ith the 
death of the Know Nothing organization 
and its successor, the American party, at the 
outbreak of the Civil War. In 1868 some 
Camps of Junior Sons of America, aided 
by members of the Order of United Amer- 
ican Mechanics, revived the society as the 
Patriotic Order, Sons of America, and the 
Junior Sons of America disappeared. Since 
that time the growth of the revived order 
has been rapid, particularly in Pennsylvania, 
where it has 60,000 members. The total 
membership is nearly 100,000, and it ranks 



* It is probable the order was founded on a local 
Philadelphia society by the same name, for in an 
account of the laying of the corner stone of the new 
native- American hall in the Second ward of that 
city it is stated that among the articles placed in 
the corner stone was a copy of the constitution and 
by-laws of the Sons of America, No. 1, of the city 
and county of Philadelphia, instituted December 
18, 1844. In the book (121 pages) the purpose of 
the society is stated to be " the uniting in fraternal 
bonds all persons advocating an extension of the 
probation of foreigners to twenty-one years at least, 
and employing American men for American offices; 
to defend the system of general education by means 
of common schools, as well as to protect freedom 
of speech, liberty of the press, and the purity of 
the ballot box." The order celebrated the 6th of 
May, the anniversary of the attack on the American 
meeting by Irish immigrants at Kensington in 1844, 
and also the 22d of February. 



as one of the four existing patriotic secret 
societies born of the native- American move- 
ment about the middle of the century, which 
are lineal descendants of American political 
secret societies, and which form a practically 
continuous chain back to a period ten years 
prior to the outbreak of the war of the 
Revolution. (See Sons of Liberty, Sons of 
St. Tamina, Society of Red Men, Order 
United American Mechanics, and Know 
Nothing Party.) Like the two orders of 
United American Mechanics and the Bro- 
therhood of the Union, it pays sick and 
death benefits by means of assessments. An 
insurance of $1,000 accompanies an op- 
tional membership of those in the Order 
under fifty years of age in the mortuary 
benefit fund, and total sick and death 
benefits paid since reorganization in 1866 
amount to more than $1,000,000. 

On December 23, 1885, Miss Agatha Bea- 
mer and an elder brother organized in Phila- 
delphia the Patriotic Daughters of America 
as an adjunct to the Patriotic Order, Sons 
of America. In May, 1887, the State 
Camp of Pennsylvania of this subordinate 
society was instituted, and on its second 
anniversary eleven Camps were in full work- 
ing order. On January 1, 1889, through 
the action of the National Camp of the 
parent society, the women's branch or degree 
was dropped. The Daughters then formally 
reorganized as a separate and independent 
organization with the title of Patriotic 
Order of True Americans. This is not 
composed exclusively of women. It has a 
double set of officers, the first of men and 
the second of women ; or the order may be 
the reverse. This branch is said not to 
exist out of Pennsylvania. The objects of 
the Patriotic Order, Sons of America closely 
parallel those of the Order of United Amer- 
ican Mechanics and the Junior Order of 
the same, to wit : 

To inculcate pure American principles, teach 
loyalty to American institutions, cultivate fraternal 
affection, oppose foreign interference in State or 
national affairs, oppose all appropriations of public 



320 



PATRIOTIC ORDER OF TRUE AMERICANS 



moneys for sectarian purposes, preserve the Con- 
stitution of the United States, and to defend and 
maintain the American system of public schools. 
Any male person is entitled to membership if of 
good moral character, sixteen years of age, a be- 
liever in the existence of a Supreme Being as 
Creator and Preserver of the Universe, born on the 
soil or under the jurisdiction of the United States 
of America, in favor of free education, opposed to 
any union of church and state, and to the inter- 
ference of any foreign power, directly or indirectly, 
with the government. 

The organization of the Order consists of 
a Supreme Body, the National Camp, with 
State Camps and subordinate Camps. 
Subordinate Camps are under the jurisdic- 
tion of the National Camp until the num- 
ber of Camps in the State warrants their 
being granted separate local management, 
when a State Camp is chartered and 
assumes control of all Camps in the State. 
The National Camp consists of representa- 
tives from each State Camp and from each 
subordinate jurisdiction under National 
Camp management. State Camps consist 
of delegates from each subordinate Camp 
in the jurisdiction. Subordinate Camps 
are chartered by the National or State 
Camps having jurisdiction, and are all 
named in honor of Washington, being num- 
bered separately in each State or Territory. 
The initiatory and other secret ceremonies 
are said to be instructive arid beautiful. 
The regalia consists of a sash of red, white 
and blue, studded with stars. There is 
also connected with the Order a uniformed 
rank entitled the Commandery General, 
Sons of America. It is controlled by a 
code of laws prepared for its own govern- 
ment. Members of Commanderies wear 
chapeaux and regalia and are armed with 
swords. Any member in good standing is 
eligible to join the Commandery General. 
Prior to 1870 the first degree was styled 
the Subordinate Camp, the second was 
known as the Past degree, and the third as 
the Commandery. In 1870 the degree 
titles Red, White, and Blue, respectively, 
were adopted. 



The Patriotic Order, Junior Sons of Amer- 
ica (Patriotic Order was added to the title 
about the year 1850) was not a strong or- 
ganization in its early years. The Junior 
Camps in those days were probably little 
more than earnest debating societies, in 
which political topics of the day were dis- 
cussed and public and private morality was 
inculcated, with the other virtues essential 
to a proper exercise of the rights of citizen- 
ship. A monument to the work of the 
Order in Pennsylvania is its resuscitation 
of Washington's headquarters at Valley 
Forge, where the patriots of the Eevolution 
suffered during that memorable winter of 
1777-78. It is due to the Order that the 
property is securely established as a per- 
manent public park. The membership of 
the Order, which extends to almost every 
State in the Union, includes men of all 
honorable trades, occupations, and profes- 
sions, including many who occupy impor- 
tant positions in national, State, and mu- 
nicipal councils. Discussion of partisan 
politics in Camps of the Order is prohibited, 
and the idea advanced is "Americans for 
America " rather than "America for 
Americans." 

Patriotic Order of True Americans. 
— Organized in 1889 by the Patriotic Order, 
Sons of America, to take the place of the 
Patriotic Daughters of America, to which 
women only had been admitted. The new 
adjunct or auxiliary to the Patriotic Order, 
Sons of America admits both men and 
women to membership. (See Patriotic 
Order, Sons of America.) 

Patriotic Order, United Sons of 
America. — A secret society of the general 
character indicated by its title, founded at 
Philadelphia prior to 1817 as the United 
Sons of America. It was originally of local 
interest only, but gradually grew in im- 
portance and membership, and was finally 
absorbed by the Sons of '76 or Order of 
the Star Spangled Banner, popularly known 
as the Know Nothing party, in 1852-54. 
The Patriotic Order, United Sons of America 



PRO PATRIA CLUB 



321 



became extinct with the death of the Amer- 
ican party, successor to the Know Nothing 
party, at the outbreak of the Civil War, 
but was revived as the Patriotic Order, Sons 
of America in 1868 or 1870, by Camps of 
the Patriotic Order, Junior Sons of America, 
assisted by members of the Order of United 
American Mechanics. By this the Junior 
Sons of America ]ost its identity. But it 
is perpetuating the Patriotic Order, United 
Sons of America under the name, Patriotic 
Order, Sons of America. This is the more 
romantic, as the Junior Sons of America 
was founded as an auxiliary Order to the 
United Sons of America in 1847. (See 
Patriotic Order, Sons of America.) 

Patriots of America. — Organized at 
the close of 1895 by W. H. Harvey, of 
Chicago, better known as " Coin " Harvey, 
to conduct a campaign looking to the for- 
mation of a "free silver" party. It also 
assumed the existence of an evil influence 
by corporations upon government officials, 
legislatures and courts, which it sought to 
combat by "eliminating personal selfish- 
ness " from the acts of public officials. But 
its primary purpose was to propagate the 
then growing demand for the free coinage 
of silver at the ratio of sixteen to one with a 
like weight of gold. The form of organiza- 
tion included a First National Patriot, a 
National Recorder, a National Treasurer, 
and a First State Patriot in each State, 
who constituted a Congress of Patriots. 
There was also to be a First Patriot for 
each county. It was expected the society 
would determine by ballot every four years 
what political relief was demanded and 
which candidates for president and vice- 
president it would support. William H. 
Harvey, author of " Coin's Financial 
School,*'' was First National Patriot ; 
Charles H. McClure, of Michigan, Na- 
tional Recorder, and James F. Adams, of 
Chicago, National Treasurer. There were 
no membership fees or dues, expenses being 
met by voluntary contributions. The First 
National Patriot, First State Patriot, and 
21 



First County Patriot took an "oath re- 
nouncing political office either by election 
or appointment." They also renounced 
" for life the ownership of property in ex- 
cess of $100,000." These officers, one in 
the nation, one in each State, and one in 
each county, were the censors of the Order, 
and were given power not conferred on 
others. The "renunciation of office and 
wealth " did not apply to others in the 
Order. There was also a coordinate branch 
of the Order, known as The Daughters of 
the Eepublic, " a charitable organization to 
look after the poor among the Patriots of 
America." No special political party was 
sponsor for the movement. Among its pro- 
moters in more than thirty States of the 
Union were representative Republicans, 
Democrats and Populists. As pointed out 
in a Chicago despatch to the New York 
" Tribune," December 7, 1895 : " If it is 
found impossible to swing either of the 
great parties into line for free silver 
the present plans (of the Patriots of Amer- 
ica) call for a national conference of sil- 
ver men early in the summer of 1896 and 
the nomination of a separate ticket for the 
presidential campaign." Many lodges of 
Patriots of America were formed, principally 
South and West, where thousands who 
"voted for silver" in 189G received their 
political training. It will probably remain 
an open question whether or not it was due 
to the activity of Harvey's secret society, 
the Patriots of America, that the political 
issues of the presidential year 1896 were 
so changed as to frustrate the purposes and 
temporarily obscure the American Protec- 
tive Association, or "A. P. A.," which up 
to June or July that year threatened to 
name the next President. With the end 
of the presidential campaign and the defeat 
of the advocates of free coinage of silver, 
the Patriots of America became dormant. 
(See Silver Knights of America and Free- 
men's Protective Silver Federation.) 

Pro Patria Club.— The New York city 
branch, or camp, of the practically extinct 



322 



PROTESTANT KNIGHTS OF AMERICA 



patriotic,, native American, beneficiary so- 
ciety, the American Patriot League. (See 
the latter. ) 

Protestant Knights of America. — 

Organized at St. Louis, Mo., early in 1895. 
A fraternal beneficiary society, designed to 
be among Protestants what the Catholic 
Knights of Columbus and other similar 
Eoman Catholic semi-secret orders are 
among Catholics. It was incorporated with 
a Supreme, and Grand or State Councils, 
constitution, by-laws, and a ritual. It 
came into existence on the wave of patri- 
otic and political secret society ascend- 
ency which was conspicuous in 1895 and 
1896. 

Reel, White, and Blue. — A new and 
more modern variety of native American 
patriotic societies, organized at Kochester, 
N. Y., by Sylvester M. Douglas. It is 
described as being very secret, only one per- 
son being permitted to have his name known 
in connection with the institution. Not 
only the membership, but the places of 
meetings are secret. It is said to confer 
three degrees on candidates for its myste- 
ries : the Red degree, in which protection 
of the Protestant religion against Catholi- 
cism and infidelity is taught; the White de- 
gree, which inculcates purity in all things, 
among others the ballot, and the Blue, or 
highest degree, which is strictly American. 
It charges that none shall be admitted 
whose grandparents and parents are not 
Americans ; that "no foreign blood can 
tincture the veins of those in the Blue 
Circle." Needless to add that the Blue 
Circle, or degree, furnishes the officers of 
the Red and the White, and that none but 
a Protestant is eligible to admission into 
the society. Members of the Red and of the 
White Circles are unknown to each other out 
of their Circles unless they are members of 
the Blue. The degree of popularity or 
strength achieved by this fraternity is un- 
known. It forms an interesting variation 
to the plain, every-day native American 
societies of the past quarter of a century. 



Royal Black Knights of the Camp of 
Israel. — A British political secret society 
to which only members of the highest or 
Scarlet degree of the Loyal Orange Associ- 
ation are eligible. (See the latter.) 

Silver Knights of America. — A secret 
society established "to secure in a legal 
way the free coinage of silver in the United 
States and to make silver a legal tender for 
all debts and to collect and spend money 
for that purpose/' It was founded early in 

1895, and its governing body, the Supreme 
Temple, Silver Knights of America, was 
incorporated as a stock company with 
$100,000 capital. Senator W. M. Stewart 
of Carson City, Nev., was president; James 
L. Pait, vice-president; Oliver C. Sabine, 
secretary ; James A. B. Richard, treasurer, 
and S. S. Yoder, director general. The 
general offices were at Washington, D. C, 
while those of the Harvey silver secret so- 
ciety were at Chicago. (See Patriots of 
America.) Many well-known men were 
leaders among the Silver Knights, particu- 
larly members and former members of the 
House of Representatives. A literary bu- 
reau was established at Washington which 
did hard work in the interest of those who 
favored free coinage of silver. The organ- 
ization of the Silver Knights of America 
was pushed simultaneously in Kentucky, 
Illinois, Missouri, and Arkansas, after which 
the leaders invaded other States, generally 
those regarded as safe for the Democracy, 
or only those districts in which the Demo- 
cratic party dominated. The new organiza- 
tion had a ritual, grips, passwords, and 
a burial service, in fact, "all the para- 
phernalia of a secret society/' There was 
also a woman's branch known as the Silver 
Ladies of America, and it was intended to 
strongly develop the social feature in that 
organization. With the defeat of the free 
silver movement in politics in November, 

1896, the Silver Knights of America dropped 
out of sight. Its membership early in that 
year was very large in central Western and 
Missouri river valley States. (See Patriots 



SONS OF LIBERTY 



of America, and Freemen's Protective Silver 
Federation.) 

Silver Ladies of America. — (See Sil- 
ver Knights of America.) 

Society of Red Men. — Founded by 
members of St. Tammany societies, mem- 
bers of a military company stationed at 
Fort Mifflin, on the Delaware Eiver, below 
Philadelphia, in 1813. It embodied " relief 
in sickness and distress," as well as adher- 
ence "to eacli other in defence of our coun- 
try's cause," was secret in character, and 
utilized the Indian ceremonials at meetings 
and initiation of members, handed down 
from the Sons of Liberty, 1764-83, and the 
Sons of St. Tamina, 1772-1810. (See Im- 
proved Order of Eed Men, and the Sons of 
Liberty.) It disappeared about 1830-32. 

Sons of Liberty. — This secret organiza- 
tion appeared in Maryland in 1764-65, as 
a protest against " taxation without repre- 
sentation," the "stamp act." the "quar- 
tering act," and other British legislation 
affecting the American colonies, which was 
regarded as unjust and oppressive. The 
name, "Sons of Liberty," was first applied 
to this originally only semi-revolution a ry 
organization, by Colonel Isaac Barre, who, 
with a few others in the British Parliament, 
opposed the passage of the "stamp act." 
It was immediately adopted by those to 
whom it applied.* As early as 1766-67 the 

*Mr. Henry Baldwin, custodian of American 
History, Library Americana, writes: "At the 
period of Zenger's trial, 1735, the radical oppo- 
nents of the royal governors were called Sons of 
Liberty; but the name was not often heard until 
after the memorable speech in the House of Com- 
mons, 1765, of Colonel Barre against taxation of 
the Americans. In reply to Charles Townshend's 
assertion that the colonies had been cared for and 
nourished by the indulgence of the British Govern- 
ment, Barre scornfully denied it, saying that care 
was exercised in sending unfit persons as governors 
to rule over them — ' men whose behavior on many 
occasions has caused the blood of those Sons of 
Liberty to recoil within them.' The associated 
patriots in America assumed this name. They 
were chiefly young men who loved excitement, but 
were truly patriotic. Their first business seemed 



Sons of Liberty became prominent in oppos- 
ing and even defying what was regarded as 
unwarranted parliamentary action with ref- 
erence to the American colonies. This was 
conspicuous at Baltimore and elsewhere in 
Maryland, and loyal colonists undertook to 
make a counter demonstration by the for- 
mation of St. George's, St. Andrew's, and 
St. David's societies. There was also a St. 
Nicholas' Society at New York, in which 
the Dutch and Huguenots found common 
ground. The underlying sentiment of the 
latter societies being loyalty to the Crown, 
the Sons of Liberty undertook to ridicule 
them by claiming the " patronage of an 
undoubted American, an Indian chief, or 
king, named Tamina orTamanend," whose 
life and exploits they professed to trace 
from his own descendants. A fuller ac- 
count may be found in the sketch of the 
Improved Order of Red Men. The career 
of the Sons of Liberty in Massachusetts, 
1765-74, will ever remain familiar by reason 
of the boarding of English vessels in Boston 
harbor by forty or fifty " Mohawk Indians," 
who emptied the cargo of tea into the water 
as a protest against the tax on tea. It is of 
more than passing import to add that records 
of a Masonic Lodge at Boston show that the 
Lodge had been closed as most of the mem- 
bers were to take part in a ''tea party." 
Paul Revere, afterwards Grand Master of 
Freemasons of Massachusetts, carried the 
news of the " tea party " to New York and 
Philadelphia. Promptly after the Sons of 
Liberty had invented the story of the patron- 
age of an American " king," the Indian chief 
Tamina, public demonstrations were marked 
by disguises as Indians, and it is related 
that the 12th of May was designated as St. 
Tamina's day, and frequently ushered in 

to be the intimidation of stamp distributors and to 
oppose the act in every way ; but, spreading widely 
over the colonies from Massachusetts to Georgia, 
they became the most radical leaders in the quarrel 
with Great Britain and promoters of the War of 
Independence, in which many of them became dis- 
tinguished leaders in the Council and in the field." 



324 



SONS OF LIBERTY 



with a military salute and Indian war dances. 
Secrecy and disguises were natural accom- 
paniments of an organization formed to 
resist or overturn the law. 

In 1771 a society of Sons of Liberty at 
Annapolis, Md., took the name of Sons of 
St. Tamina, the change being practically 
one of name only, which course was fol- 
lowed by other societies of Sons of Liberty, 
and at the close of the War of the Eevolu- 
tion the Sons of Liberty, as such, had prac- 
tically ceased to exist. Many of the patriots 
of ante-revolutionary days and during the 
war of 1776-83 were Sons of Liberty in 
name as well as in fact, but, as in all such 
secret societies, it was only on particular 
occasions the identity of any of them was 
made known. As pointed out elsewhere in 
the outline of the origin of the modern 
charitable and benevolent secret society, 
the Improved Order of Eed Men, it was 
the Sons of Liberty which gave rise to the 
Sons of St. Tamina (afterwards " Tarn- 
many"), and members 'of the latter which 
organized the Society of Red Men, near 
Philadelphia, in 1813, in which political 
bias was a mainspring. The Society of 
Eed Men died out between 1827 and 1832, 
when some of its more active members, 
aided by representatives of a few remain- 
ing branches of the St. Tammany Society, 
formed, in 1834, the Improved Order of Eed 
Men, a purely charitable and beneficiary 
secret organization, which continues a pros- 
perous career to this day. But the political 
salt of the earlier Sons of Liberty, even after 
passing through the succeeding political 
organizations, Sons of St. Tamina and the 
Society of Eed Men, 1813-1832, had not even 
then lost its savor. In 1835 New York city 
witnessed a " native American/' non-secret, 
political uprising, and in 1837 there was 
another at Philadelphia, both of them 
short lived. In 1843, the movement ap- 
peared again at New York and resulted in 
the election of a native American candidate 
for mayor, James Harper, founder of the 
well-known firm of publishers, Harper 



Brothers. Labor troubles at Philadelphia 
and New York were prominent in the next 
few years, due to a heavy increase of im- 
migration, and in 1845 there was formed 
at Philadelphia what may be called a native 
American trades union to resist the en- 
croachment of foreign pauper labor, under 
the name, the United American Mechanics. 
Native American sentiment cropped out 
repeatedly in the decade following the close 
of the War of the Eevolution, and burst into 
a flame in the alien and sedition laws of 
1798, the sentiment back of which had been 
nurtured by St. Tamina societies. This 
feeling was again apparent during and 
after the War of 1812, but died down dur- 
ing the political " era of good feeling." 
But societies of Eed Men had succeeded the 
Sons of St. Tammany and still kept the 
sentiment alive until 1830-32. It was only a 
few years later when nativism again became 
a factor in politics. The native American 
trades union of 1845 soon dropped its non- 
secret character and, as the Order of United 
American Mechanics, became a general se- 
cret society of native Americans which, 
while not partisan, was yet political in that 
its objects were, and are, to maintain the 
rights of native Americans and preserve 
our form of government against inroads by 
those who seek asylum here. This organi- 
zation still exists, a lineal descendant of the 
Sons of Liberty of 1764-83, and has given 
birth directly and indirectly, in fact or by 
inspiration, to many political secret socie- 
ties. Among these are the Junior Order, 
United American Mechanics, 1853 ; the 
Patriotic Order, United Sons of America, 
1847 ; Brotherhood of the Union, 1850 ; 
Sons of '76, or the Star Spangled Ban- 
ner, afterwards the secret native American 
party popularly known as the Know Noth- 
ing party, 1852 ; Order of the American 
Union, or the United Order of Deputies, 
1873 ; Templars of Liberty, 1881 ; Patri- 
otic League of the Eevolution, 1882 ; Ameri- 
can Protective Association, better known 
as the "A. P. A.", 1887; the American 



SONS OF ST. TAMINA 



325 



Patriot League, 1888 ; and the Order of the 
Little Eed School House. The Sons of 
Liberty at the time of the Boston " tea 
party " had developed into an organization 
not merely to resist, but, if necessary, to 
rebel; the Sons of St. Tamina after the 
Revolution were the conservators of popular 
patriotism and Americanism, while the 
Society of Eed Men, 1813-32, while rather 
less democratic than its Tamina or Tam- 
many ancestors, was formed by those of one 
political bias to adhere to its "country's 
cause.'*" With immigration in the second 
third of the present century was injected an 
anti-Roman Catholic political sentiment 
which has been present ever since, and, 
with " America for Americans *' and allied 
political issues, has been kept warm within 
and often without the lodges of most of 
the modern political secret societies, names 
of which have been given. 

Sons of Liberty (2d.) — A native Amer- 
ican patriotic secret order, named after the 
organization by that name which nourished 
before and during the War of the Revolu- 
tion. It appeared at a number of eastern 
cities between 1870 and 1880, but owing, 
in part, to the success of rival fraternities 
with similar purposes, it did not live long. 

Sous of St. Tamina. — The society of 
St. Tamina was formed at Annapolis in 
1771 by a change of name only from that 
of Sons of Liberty. Several societies of 
Sons of Liberty, which first appeared in 
Maryland in 17G4-65, and spread through 
the country west and north of the Delaware 
and Chesapeake ba} T s and east into New 
England, as an organized resistance to un- 
just British laws which affected the colo- 
nies, changed to Sons or Societies of St. 
Tamina early in the seventies in the last cen- 
tury. The change was slight, as the Sons 
of Liberty had adopted a mythical Indian 
chief Tamina as their patron saint, or 
king, in ridicule of the then loyal St. Da- 
vid, St. George, and St. Andrew societies, 
which professed allegiance to the British 
Crown. Further details are given in 



sketches of the Sons of Liberty and of the 
Improved Order of Red Men.* After the 
War of the Revolution the Sons of St. Tam- 
ina stood for popular patriotism and op- 
posed the Royalists who remained in the 
country, the proposition to have the Presi- 
dent hold office for life, and the aristocratic 
tendencies of the time as shown by the So- 
ciety of the Cincinnati, with its hereditary 
membership and, as alleged, anti-republican 
features. They disguised themselves as In- 
dians to conceal their identities, as the Sons 
of Liberty had done, and like the Sons of 
Liberty, also, made use of Indian ceremoni- 
als at their meetings and initiations. 

The American Sons of King Tammany 
was founded at Philadelphia in 1772, but 
was said to have had a previous existence 
of i i some years/' It was patriotic, and 
afterwards political in character, and num- 
bered some of the most prominent citizens 
of Philadelphia among its members. It 
died about 1S22, when many of its mem- 
bera joined the Society of Red Men. The 
Tammany Society, or Columbian Order, 
was formed at Xcw York city in 1789. 
The name was the outcome of a compromise, 
it being the desire of some of its original 
members to call it after Columbus rather 
than after the Indian chief Tamina. More 
extended reference is made to this branch of 
the revolutionary St. Tamina organizations 
under the head Improved Order of Red 



* At the time when most of the colonists of posi- 
tion were of foreign birth, society was greatly split 
up, the Scotch giving a dinner and dance on St. 
Andrew's day, the ITuguenots and Dutch joining 
to do honor to St. Nicholas, and the English cele- 
brating St. George's day. Young men of American 
birth, members of St. Tammany societies, chose 
May 12th as St. Tammany's day, and ushered it in 
with the ringing of bells and firing of guns, dancing 
in Indian costume or with bucktails hanging from 
their caps. It was from this they were for years 
after called "Bucktails." Tradition has it that 
Colonel Washington took part in Tammany cele- 
brations held at or near Alexandria, Va., owing, 
probably, to the likelihood of his having witnessed 
them. 



326 



SONS OF 



OR ORDER OF THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER 



Men. Another Tammany society, or Co- 
lumbian Order, was founded at Baltimore 
in 1805, as a purely political secret society, 
and it is said that it had "a characteristic 
word " with which to gain admission to its 
meetings. It did not live long, but that at 
Annapolis, formed in 1772, was active until 
1810. The New York organization is the 
only one which preserves an unbroken 
existence to this day, and even it has 
dropped its partisan political cloak on 
the shoulders of the subordinate non-secret 
political organization, Tammany Hall. 

All of the original or earlier Tammany 
societies were political at first, but some 
ultimately become rather social, and occa- 
sionally benevolent in their purposes. But 
from 1790 to 1810 the political features 
were again prominent, and many poli- 
ticians of that day were enrolled among 
their members. The political secret So- 
ciety of Eed Men, formed near Philadel- 
phia in 1813 by members or ex-members of 
Tammany societies, carried forward Indian 
ceremonials and customs as adjuncts to a 
political secret fraternity to later days, as 
explained at length in the accounts of the 
Sons of Liberty and of the Improved Order 
of Eed Men. 

Sons of '76, or Order of the Star 
Spangled Banner. — Original title of the 
political secret society which appeared in 
1851 as the successor to the non-secret na- 
tive American political parties of 1835-45, 
in which were many members of the pa- 
triotic secret organizations, Order of United 
American Mechanics 1845, Patriotic Order 
of United Sons of America 1847, and the 
Brotherhood of the Union, established in 
1850. The Sons of '76 found the time 
apparently ripe for a native American 
propaganda favoring restricted immigra- 
tion, and antagonism to union between 
church and state, for the society won a 
surprising political victory in 1852. It had 
then become popularly known as the Know 
No thing party, owing to members replying 
that they knew nothing about it when 



asked questions concerning the new and 
secret political engine. By 1856 it had been 
reconstructed into a non-secret, national, 
political organization under the title Native 
American party and nominated Fillmore 
and Donelson as its candidates for Presi- 
dent and Vice-President. Although casting 
nearly 900,000 votes, it carried only one 
State, Maryland. It had occasional but 
waning political successes in the few years 
prior to the outbreak of the Civil War, when 
most of its remaining membership, includ- 
ing nearly all of the Patriotic Order, Sons 
of America, which it had practically ab- 
sorbed, united in 1860 with the Constitu- 
tional Union party, which was politically 
still-born. (See Know Nothing Party, 
Order United American Mechanics, and 
Sons of Liberty.) 

Sons of the Soil. — One of the many na- 
tive American secret societies of the period 
1850 to 1856. It was organized at one of 
the Hudson Kiver towns, and, like so many 
others, was finally carried bodily into the 
Know Nothing party between 1854 and 
1856. 

Supreme Order, Sons of '76. — See 
Know Nothing Party. 

Tammany Society, or Columbian Or- 
der. — Established at New York city, May 
12, 1789, by William Mooney, an Irish 
American, and by representatives of Penn- 
svlvania, Maryland and Delaware Sons of 
St. Tamina and St. Tammany societies, the 
latter being the direct descendants, as or- 
ganizations, of the Sons of Liberty, which 
antedated the War of the Eevolution. It 
has since given its political functions over 
to a subsidiary non-secret club known as 
Tammany Hall. Its object was to ''ce- 
ment in indissoluble bonds of friendship 
American brethren of known attachment to 
the political rights of human nature and 
the liberties of the country." The first 
public celebration of the Society was held 
on the banks of the North Kiver on May 21, 
1789. It flourished only moderately during 
Washington's administration, but with that 



WOMEN'S LOYAL ORANGE ASSOCIATION 



327 



of Jefferson it became a strong, active, po- 
litical organization as it is found to-day. 
It was incorporated in 1805, and in 1811 
built the original Tammany Hall on the 
corner of Frankfort Street and Park Row. 
A second Tammany Society, or Columbian 
Order, from similar sources, appeared at 
Baltimore in 1805. It was of distinctly po- 
litical character, but did not live long. (See 
Improved Order of Red Men, and Sons of 
St. Tamina.) 

Templars of Liberty. — Organized at 
Newark, N. J., in 1881, by George W. 
Palmer and Charles Kennedy of Brooklyn, 
N. Y., and J. A. Flammer of Newark, as a 
patriotic, anti-Roman Catholic, assessment 
beneficiary organization. It was incorpo- 
rated in 1883 and has grown slowly but 
steadily in New York State, New Jersey, 
and Pennsylvania, where most of its Temples 
are located, numbering about 5,000 mem- 
bers. It is built upon similar principles to 
those underlying the American Protestant 
Association, the Order of the American 
Union and the American Patriot League, de- 
manding an educational test for admission to 
citizenship, unsectarian free schools, a free 
press and liberty of conscience, and it de- 
nounces "dictation from pope, priest, or 
bishop." It is worthy of note that the 
founders are declared not to have been 
members of any other patriotic orders in 
1881 and 1883, Mr. Flammer alone being 
described as a member of any other secret 
society, the Independent Order of Odd Fel- 
lows. The emblem of the society is the God- 
dess of Liberty seated within the Temple of 
Liberty, the dome of which is supported by 
six columns. At her right stands an Indian 
and a deer, opposite a farmer with sheaf of 
wheat and a horse. The temple is sur- 
mounted by an American eagle. The bene- 
ficiary features are simple yet in advance of 
those of some larger and better known or- 
ganizations. Mothers, wives, sisters, and 



daughters of members are eligible to bene- 
ficiary membership. The highest death 
benefit paid is $1,000, and benefits are met 
by assessments graded according to age at 
entering. The ritual of the society is 
founded on scenes and incidents of the 
Reformation. 

Templars Order of tlie American 
Star, Free and Accepted Americans. — 
Organized at New York city about 1853-54 
as a native American, patriotic, secret so- 
ciety, by William Patton. Its first meeting 
was held in a stable, and the second in Con- 
vention Hall, in Wooster Street. Patton 
was its first president. In May, 1855, there 
were fifty-nine Temples in New York and 
in Kings County. Its original name was 
American Brethren, and it was afterward 
known as the Wide Awakes, a name 
later applied to Republican political pro- 
cessions in national campaigns in 1860 and 
in 1864. The latter portion of its rather 
elaborate title, as given above, is sugges- 
tive as to other secret society affiliations of 
some of its leaders. The Order is not 
known to have survived the Know Nothing 
movement. 

The Zodiac. — An inner circle to which 
only leaders of the American Protective As- 
sociation belong, and which is credited with 
being the directing influence of the Order. 
(See American Protective Association.) 

True Brethren. — See Templars Order 
of the American Star. 

United Order of Deputies. — See Order 
of the American Union. 

Wide Awakes. — See Templars Order of 
the American Star. 

^ Women's Historical Association. — 
An auxiliary of the American Protective 
Association. (See the latter.) 

, Women's Loyal Orange Association. 
— Title of the women's branch of the Loyal 
Orange Association in the United States. 
(See the latter.) 



328 



COLLEGE FRATERNITIES 



VIII 



GEEEK-LETTEK OE COLLEGE FEATEENITIES 



College Fraternities. — Secret, literary, 
and social organizations of students at 
American colleges and universities; some- 
times called Greek-letter societies, because 
the names of nearly all of them are made 
up of two or three Greek letters, which are 
presumed to refer to mystical words or to 
mottoes known only to members. It is as 
if the Odd Fellows called themselves the 
"F. L. T." Fraternity, referring to their 
well-known watchwords, " Friendship, Love, 
and Truth." College fraternities may be 
classified as general, local, professional, 
and women's. There are twenty-six fra- 
ternities in the first group, which have 
chapters or branches in from four to sixty- 
four of the higher institutions of learning 
in the United States. Membership is con- 
fined in almost all instances to students 
studying the classics or those in the liter- 
ary and scientific departments; membership 
originally was, and in a few instances to- 
day is, restricted to upper-class men. This 
has resulted in the formation of similar soci- 
eties among students in professional schools, 
of which four have achieved prominence 
and a considerable membership. With the 
increase of institutions for the higher edu- 
cation of women, there have appeared nearly 
a dozen Greek and Roman letter secret so- 
cieties for women undergraduates, half a 
dozen of which made themselves known 
beyond the walls of the colleges where they 
have an active existence. There are many 
college secret societies classed as local, that 
is, existing only at colleges where founded, 
some with Greek-letter and some with 
other titles, among the better known of 
which are the three senior class societies at 
Yale. If to the foregoing there be added 
those which have lived, shone, and left a 



record, American college life will be found 
to have given birth to almost one hundred 
secret societies of this particular and unique 
type. 

The form of government prior to 1870 was 
weak, consisting of general supervision by a 
Grand, usually the parent Chapter, or by 
one chapter after another in turn, which 
made laws and regulations as it pleased, 
communicated the fact to the other chap- 
ters and left it to their option to obey them. 
But within the last quarter of a century 
conventions made up of delegates from 
chapters, with administrative bodies or 
councils, composed of alumni members, have 
had a general supervision over and man- 
agement of affairs, and in leading instances 
have taken the place of an imperial form of 
government. Annual conventions are held 
with undergraduate chapters, in turn, when 
undergraduate delegates act in the capacity 
of legislators, leaving the duties of an ex- 
ecutive to the council of alumni. These 
reunions generally end with a banquet and 
formal public exercises at which distin- 
guished members deliver addresses of wel- 
come, poems, and orations in the presence 
of delegates and other undergraduate mem- 
bers, their relatives and friends. These 
exercises are rendered the more attractive 
because of the long list of alumni prominent 
in the various walks of life, who may be 
called on to discourse eloquently touching 
the fraternity and what it means to those 
who enjoy its privileges, or on literary and 
economic topics. 

Membership in college fraternities in- 
cludes active, alumni, and honorary; but 
the latter, with a few exceptions, is no longer 
permitted to increase, initiations being con- 
fined to undergraduates. At some of the 



COLLEGE FRATERNITIES 



329 



larger cities, graduate members have estab- 
lished alumni chapters or clubs. The older 
fraternities, for they do not rank necessarily 
according to membership, have published 
accounts of their origin and growth; a num- 
ber have issued elaborate and ornate cata- 
logues, with lists of names of members 
arranged alphabetically by States and by col- 
leges, with memoranda as to rank in the so- 
ciety or at college and biographical sketches 
of members distinguished in public life; not 
a few issue magazines and other periodicals, 
some of which are circulated privately. 
Nearly all have published music and song 
books of their own, in some instances have 
adopted distinctive colors, and in others, 
flowers, as having a special significance. But 
most important, perhaps, are college frater- 
nity badges, almost always made of gold, 
sometimes enamelled, and generally set with 
precious stones. These are worn conspicu- 
ously by undergraduate members and 'by 
many long after leaving college. In a num- 
ber of instances the badge consists of a mono- 
gram formed of the Greek letters composing 
the name of the fraternity; in others, of a 
representation of one or more emblems and 
in many instances of shields or rhombs, or- 
namented with enamelled, jewelled, or en- 
graved letters and emblems. 

f The Greek-letter fraternity is unique 
among secret societies, in that it is the only 
organization of the kind founded on an 
aristocracy of social advantage and educa- 
tional opportunity. Students have to be 
invited to join them, and the undergraduate 
who should prove so unfamiliar with college 
customs as to ask to join one would probably 
never be permitted to do so. So "secret" 
are the Greek-letter fraternities, or most 
of them, that, although wearing jewelled 
badges, members generally refuse to men- 
tion the organization in the presence of pro- 
fanes. Instances have been known where a 
member of one college fraternity resigned 
and joined another, or was expelled and 
elected by a rival society, but they are like 
hens' teeth. When this does happen, the 



member is said to be "lifted." A student 
whose acquaintance has been cultivated, has 
been "rushed;" when he has been asked 
to join, he has been "bid; " and when he 
has agreed to do so, he is " pledged; " when 
'he has been initiated and appears wearing 
the society's badge, he is " swung out." In 
" rushing " a man it is customary to invite 
him to the fraternity house, where he meets 
the members, who watch his conduct and 
his conversation. If he makes a good im- 
pression, he is invited again, taken to foot- 
ball games, to the theatre, and invited to 
social affairs, and if all are satisfied the new 
man is a desirable acquisition he is invited, 
to join. After initiation the watch over a 
new member is kept up. He is guarded 
against falling behind in class work and is 
taught during all his first year that neither 
he nor his opinions are of importance. By 
the time he is a sophomore he has learned 
to make allowance for every one's point of 
view. J 

Among about six hundred and fifty chap- 
ters of American college fraternities nearly 
seventy possess houses or temples valued at 
over #1,000,000, costing from $1,200 to 
$100,000. Some of them are elaborate and 
fanciful in design, others severely classic 
and still others sombre piles of brick and 
stone. In many instances members lodge 
in fraternity houses, in others out of them. 
The tabular exhibit on page 330 respecting 
some of the better known general Greek- 
letter fraternities is condensed from data 
for 1890 and 1891, furnished by William 
Raimond Baird in Johnson's Encyclopaedia. 

The' system of Greek-letter fraternities, 
nearly if not all of which are chartered 
corporations, is fitly characterized by John 
Addison Porter, private secretary to Presi- 
dent McKinley, in a" Century Magazine " 
article, September, 1888, as "the most 
prominent characteristic of American un- 
dergraduate social life." A reference to 
brief sketches of them will reveal the names 
of a few of the 125,000 members who dur- 
ing the greater part of the present century 



330 



COLLEGE FRATERNITIES 



Name of Society. 


Where 
Founded, 


Year 
Founded. 


Member- 
ship, 
1898. 


No. of Chap- 
ters. 


No. 
Chapter 
Houses. 


Colors. 


Form of Badge. 


Alive. 


Dor- 
mant. 


Kappa Alpha 

Sigma Phi 

Delta Phi 




1825 
1827 
1827 
1832 
1833 
1834 

1839 

1841 

1844 

1846 
1847 
1847 
1848 
1848 
1849 
1852 
1854 
1855 

1856 

1860 

1865 

1865 

1867 
1868 

1869 


1,395 

2,190 
2,914 
7,933 
8,585 
6,275 

10,577 

3,718 

12,948 

4,827 
2,989 
3,411 
6,330 
9,609 
2,153 
7,435 
4,048 
6,051 

5,668 

5,670 

4,261 

3,855 

3,466 
1,061 

2,864 


4 

11 
19 
17 
26 

60 

16 

34 

SO 
9 
20 
40 
66 
11 
35 
21 
38 

31 

39 

35 

26 

23 

4 

20 


2 

2 

8 
2 
6 

19 

9 

13 

10 
10 
14 
23 
17 
15 
16 
23 
24 

33 

26 
21 

12 

20 

7 

7 


3 
6 

2 
7 
5 

7 

3 

5 

9 

4 
8 
2 

1 
1 
1 
1 




6 

1 











Watchkey. 
Monogram. 




Blue, White 

Blue, White 

White, Green 

Garnet, Gold 

Blue, Gold 


Union 

Hamilton 

Union 

Williams 


Alpha Delta Phi... 

Psi Upsilon 

Delta Upsilon 

Beta Theta Pi 


Star and Crescent. 
Rhomb. 
Monogram. 
( Eight-sided, oblong 


Pink, Blue 


Chi Psi 




Purple, Gold 

Blue, Gold, Crimson. 
White 


) Shield. 


Delta Kappa Ep- i 

silon j 

Zeta Psi 


Yale 




Univ. N. Y 

Columbia 

Union 


Monogram. 

St. Anthony's Cross. 

Shield. 


Delta Psi 


Light Biue 

Black, White, Blue.. 


Theta Delta Chi... 


Phi Gamma Delta. 


Wash. & Jeff... 


Rhomb. 


Phi Delta Theta. . . 


White, Blue 

Black, Gold 


Shield. 


Phi Kappa Sigma . 

Phi Kappa Psi 

*Chi Phi 


Univ. Pa 

Wash. & Jeff... 
Princeton 


Maltese Cross, Skull. 


Royal Purple 

Scarlet, Blue 

Black, Gold 


Shield. 
Monogram. 


Sigma Chi 


Sigma Alpha Ep- (_ 

silon j 

Delta Tau Delta... 

Alpha Tau Omega. 

Kappa Alpha) 

(south) f 

Kappa Sigma 

Pi Kappa Alpha. . . 


Univ. Ala. ...... 

Bethany 

Va. Mil. Inst.... 

Wash.-Lee Univ. 

Univ. Va 

Univ. Va 

Va. Mil. Inst.... 


Purple, Gold 

Purple. Gold. White. 
J Gold, White,! 
i Green, Blue... J 

Cardinal, Gold 

Blue, Gold, Red 

Garnet, Gold 

Black, White, Gold . 


Rhomb. 

Four-sided Shield. 
Maltese Cross. 

Shield. 

Crescent and Star. 
Shield and Rhomb. 
S 15-pointed, 5-pan- 




i elled Cross. 



Claims to be a revival of a Chi Phi fraternity founded at Princeton in 1824, which is not known to have been active. 



have done much to add lustre to the pro- 
fessional, political, and business life of the 
Eepublic The novitiate of the college fra- 
ternity soon learns to think of these men 
not only as brethren, but as models. Presi- 
dent Seelye of Amherst College, in an ad- 
dress on June 28, 1887, said: 

It is not accidental that the foremost men in col- 
lege, as a rule, belong to some of these societies. 
That each society should seek for membership the 
best scholars, the best writers and speakers, the 
best men of a class, shows well where its strength is 
thought to lie. A student entering one of these 
societies finds a healthy stimulus in the repute 
which his fraternity shall share from his successful 
work. The rivalry of individuals loses much of its 
narrowness, and almost all of its envy, when the 
prize which the individual seeks is valued chiefly 
for its benefit to the fellowship to which he belongs. 
Doubtless members of these societies often remain 
narrow-minded and laggard in the race, after all the 
influence of their society has been expended upon 
them, but the influence is a broadening and a 
quickening one notwithstanding. Under its power 
the self-conceit of a young man is more likely to 
give way to self-control than otherwise. 



Mr. Porter adds this : 

These "little societies" have supplied forty 
governers to most of the largest States of the 
Union, and had, in the last administration, the 
President of the United States and the majority of 
his Cabinet. On the Supreme Bench of the United 
States the fraternities are now (1888) represented by 
five of the associate justices. A summary, published 
in 1885, showed Alpha Delta Phi, Psi Upsilon, and 
Delta Kappa Epsilon, to have furnished of United 
States senators, 39, 25, and 36, respectively ; while 
in the last Congress thirteen representatives and two 
senators were members of the last-named fraternity 
alone ; and in the membership of these three fra- 
ternities are included twenty-four bishops of the 
Protestant Episcopal Church. 

In view of the foregoing, it is with amuse- 
ment rather than concern that one recalls 
the active opposition to college secret soci- 
eties between 1845 and 1885 by the faculties 
of a few distinguished colleges and officers 
of a number of other institutions of learn- 
ing. This was due in part to the antipathy 
for all secret societies engendered in the 
minds of some who were close to but partly 



COLLEGE FRATERNITIES 33 L 

ignorant of the facts underlying the anti- ett, then member of Congress, was the can- 
Masonic agitation of from 1827 to 1840; didate (such is the irony of fate) for the 
partly to the warfare waged against secret Vice-Presidency of the Constitutional Union 
associations of all kinds by one or two re- party in 1860. The latter organization, it 
ligious denominations, and, to some extent, will be recalled, was the residuary legatee 
to ignorance of all that pertains to these' of the so-called Know Nothing party, a 
societies, or because antagonists had been prescriptive, political secret society, which 
refused by or expelled from membership in antagonized aliens and Roman Catholics 
such organizations, or for special reasons from behind closed doors and at the ballot- 
applyiug to particular instances. All of box during the early fifties. (See Know 
this opposition, except that at Princeton, has Nothing Party.) There were few chapters 
practically disappeared, the other colleges of college secret societies in 1831, not more 
prohibiting Greek-letter fraternities not hav- than a dozen scattered throughout New 
ing either the standing as institutions of England, New York, and New Jersej 7 , and 
learning or the personnel among their stu- communication between them either by mail 
dents which would suggest the propriety or in person was infrequent. There was no 
of establishing chapters of these societies, other effect of the effort by Adams, Story, 
The earliest warfare of this character was and Everett until in 1831, when a " non- 
at Harvard College in 1831, when John secret " Greek-letter society, Delta Upsilon,* 
Quincy Adams and others, notably Joseph was formed at Williams College. It exists 
Story and Edward Everett, induced the par- to this day, with chapters in twenty-six col- 
ent Greek-letter society, Phi Beta Kappa, leges, and has many of the outward peculi- 
to make public its so-called secrets and be- arities of the secret Greek -letter fraternities, 
come an open, honorary organization. It It reveals very little more of what it does 
is worth recalling that in 1831 Mr. Adams than the latter, and calls itself private in- 
was elected an anti-Masonic and Whig can- stead of secret. Eleven years later, 1845, 
didate for Congress and that he had been the faculty of the University of Michigan 
defeated for reelection to the Presidency demanded the disbandment of chapters of 
three years before by Andrew Jackson, a Alpha Delta Phi, Chi Psi, and Beta Theta 
Freemason, at a time when public feeling Pi under penalty of expulsion of members 
ran high against the Masonic Fraternity, and required new students to sign a pledge 
owing to its supposed responsibility for the not to join such societies. The fight be- 
mysterious disappearance of one Morgan tween the faculty and the few members of 
who, it was said, proposed to reveal its the then far western branches of those fra- 
secrets. Mr. Adams was led to " hate Free- ternities lasted five or six years. The mem- 
masonry," not from any personal knowledge bers of Beta Theta Pi tried to evade the 
he had of it, but because of the attitude of rule and killed the chapter in the attempt, 
politicians toward the institution who ex- Alpha Delta Phi and Chi Psi fought the 
ercised a great influence over him. One faculty tooth and nail, in the press through- 
result was a series of letters abusive of Free- out the State, by means of an informed and 
masonry which he published in the news- * There is an anti-secret society called Delta 
papers between 1831 and 1833, and another, Upsilon, which exists at a number of colleges and 
evidently, was his rescuing the chapter of grew out of a confederation of societies having 
Phi Beta Kappa at Harvard, his alma mater, their ori S in in opposition to the secret societies. It 

from the depths of iniquity to which he evi- makes more or less P oint of the alle ^ d imraOTalit 7 

, ., ., . , ' . .. .. of the secrecy of the fraternities and its chapters 

dentlv tnoua'nt its secrecv was leading it. 7 .., • , tl _ » , •■• 

& ° o^i^jr etc ^^^g *«" wor k with or against the fraternities as may seem 

Associate Justice Story was professor of law to them expedient.— Baird's American College Fra- 

at Harvard at the time, and Edward Ever- ternities, Xew York. 



332 



COLLEGE FRATERNITIES 



healthy public sentiment, and with the aid 
of Freemasons and Odd Fellows, until the 
rule was rescinded. Two professors were 
expelled from the faculty by the Board of 
Regents and one was allowed to resign. A 
new president of the university was ap- 
pointed shortly after and there was no 
further trouble. This anti-fraternity war, 
almost one of extermination, was another 
outcome of anti-secret society sentiment cre- 
ated by the anti-Masonic agitation a few 
years before. Opposition to the Greek-let- 
ter fraternities continued to show itself at 
some colleges through faculty regulations 
prohibiting their organization, notably at 
the Universities of Alabama, North Caro- 
lina, and Illinois; at Oberlin and others by 
requiring students to sign a pledge at ma- 
triculation not to join such societies, which 
was the course pursued at Princeton in 1857, 
at Purdue, Dennison, and elsewhere. The 
refusal of the University of California in 
1879 to permit a chapter of one of these 
societies to exist roused the press of that 
State, and the order was speedily rescinded. 
At Purdue University, Indianapolis, the fac- 
ulty opposed Greek-letter fraternities, on 
the ground that they exercised an undue 
influence to enlarge the classical course of 
studies at the expense of the scientific. A 
test case was made of the faculty's refusing 
to admit to college a member of the Sigma 
Chi Fraternity who was otherwise eligible. 
The case was taken to the Supreme Court 
and the college authorities were beaten,* 
" the fraternities " being placed by this de- 
cision " in a position entirely similar to that 
of other secret societies," putting the bur- 
den of proof upon the faculty passing anti- 
fraternity laws, "to show that attendance 
upon the meetings of a fraternity interfere 
with the relation of the members of the col- 
lege." The president of Purdue resigned 
soon after and was succeeded, strange to 
relate, by a member of the Sigma Chi fra- 
ternity. Within the past fifteen years anti- 

* Baird's American College Fraternities. 



fraternity laws have been repealed or ignored 
by Harvard as well as Vanderbilt, and by 
the Universities of North Carolina, Georgia, 
Iowa, Missouri, and Alabama. The secrecy 
of these societies is confined to so little be- 
sides privacy of meetings that it hardly calls 
for comment. While largely social, their 
aims are high and ideals lof fcy. Advantages 
secured and friendships gained through 
them are often among the most valuable 
acquisitions of the college student. 

Origin and Extension. — American 
Greek-letter college secret societies began 
with the formation of Phi Beta Kappa at 
the College of William and Mary, Williams- 
burg, Va., December 5, 1776. Secret or 
semi-secret, as well as open, literary college 
societies, usually with Latin names, already 
existed, where debates and annual elections 
of officers were often the first training of 
the young student in public speaking and 
in politics. William and Mary was a suc- 
cessful and prosperous college one hundred 
and twenty-one years ago, and there it was 
that five young men formed a new and, as 
they believed, more effective students' or- 
ganization. There was already a society 
there with a Latin name, and as one of the 
five students was a good Greek scholar, it 
has been thought that may have suggested 
the propriety of a Greek-letter name. In 
any event, they chose a Greek motto of 
three words, the initials of which are Phi 
Beta Kappa; decided to keep the society's 
proceedings secret; declared themselves a 
fraternity ; established a few local branches, 
of which nothing has been heard since, and 
chapters at Yale and Harvard, which pre- 
served the society and founded what has 
grown into a veritable world of Greek-letter 
fraternities. (See Phi Beta Kappa; also 
accompanying genealogical charts showing 
the order and place of establishment of ear- 
lier chapters of Phi Beta Kappa, and some 
of the other older Greek -letter fraternities, 
whether imitators of or merely inspired by 
a spirit of rivalry to those which preceded 
them.) The parent chapter of Phi Beta 



COLLEGE FRATERNITIES 



333 



Kappa became dormant at the approach 
of Lord Cornwallis in 1781. The Yale 
Chapter was established in 1780, and that 
at Harvard a year later. These were origi- 
nally the Zeta and Epsilon Chapters, Beta, 
Gamma and Delta having been assigned 
to now extinct, local, non-collegiate Vir- 
ginia chapters. They subsequently became 
the Alphas, respectively, of Connecticut 
and Massachusetts. From this, doubtless, 
arose the custom in many of the Creek- 
letter fraternities of designating chapters 
by Creek letters, the oldest in a State as 
Alpha, and so on. Six years later, in 
1787, the Yale and Harvard Chapters 
took Phi Beta Kappa to Dartmouth, at 
Hanover, N". H., and in 1817, thirty years 
after, it was established at Union College at 
Schenectady, X. Y. It was during this 
thirty years' interval that the older college 
literary societies nourished, many of which 
had Latin names, some of which are still act- 
ive, but most of which have given way to the 
Creek-letter fraternities, except at Prince- 
ton, Avhere Whig and Clio continue features 
of student life; and at Lafayette, where 
Washington and Jefferson claim a large 
share of attention. Four years after Phi 
Beta Kappa was taken to L'nion College, a 
second Creek-letter fraternity was founded 
at Yale, manifestly suggested by Phi Beta 
Kappa, which had been there forty-one 
years. It was called Chi Delta Theta, and 
differed from its progenitor in that it never 
established branches or chapters at other 
colleges, but remained a local, and, more 
recently, an honorary society, membershij) 
in it being practically an honor conferred 
upon the editorial staff of the Yale ' ' Literary 
Magazine." Two years later, in 1823, ac- 
cording to tradition, a Kappa Alpha club 
was formed at Union College, there being at 
that time no intention of making it a secret 
society. Whether the thought of rivalling 
the then comparatively widespread Creek- 
letter fraternity Phi Beta Kappa was the 
inspiration is not known, but the probabili- 
ties indicate that the second Creek-letter 



fraternity at Union was modelled after the 
first. Their names are suggestively alike 
and a comparison of the watchkey badges of 
both would seem to settle the question. In 
1825 Kappa Alpha club blossomed out as a 
regular Creek-letter fraternity, and two 
years later, stimulated by a spirit of emula- 
tion, Sigma Phi was founded and within a 
few months Delta Phi was organized, the 
third at Union College, which institution 
has proved a veritable mother of fraternities. 
These three societies, the "Union Triad," 
are, more than any others, except Phi Beta 
Kappa, responsible for the widespread in- 
terest shown during the past sixty years in 
this department of secret, social, and liter- 
ary life at American colleges. Sigma Phi 
was the first to follow the example of Phi 
Beta Kappa by establishing chapters, its 
original branch being at Hamilton College, 
Clinton, X. Y., where it was established in 
1831. Kappa Alpha was quick to follow 
the example, but the Hamilton students 
who were approached by the ; "Kaps" de- 
clined to become members of that society, 
and in 1832 founded one of their own, call- 
ing it Alpha Delta Phi. It was in 1832 also 
that the Yale society commonly called 
Skull and Bones appeared. It has con- 
tinued a purely local organization, on the 
lines of other college fraternities, without a 
Greek-letter title, but with more mystery 
and prestige than usually surrounds a soci- 
ety which does not venture beyond the place 
of origin. It is due to Skull and Bones that 
what is known as the Yale secret society 
system differs from that at almost all other 
colleges. At the latter, members of a fra- 
ternity would as soon think of committing 
treason as join a second college society; but 
at Yale the sophomore joins one of the junior 
Greek-letter fraternities, if asked, and then 
lives in the unuttered hope of being invited 
to join one of the local senior-year fraterni- 
ties. Whether successful or not, his inter- 
est in his junior society (one of the three 
most renowned which have chapters at the 
older institutions of learning) is not, as a 



334 



COLLEGE FRATERNITIES 



rule, of that deep and lasting nature which 
characterizes members of the same society 
at other colleges. In 1829, three years be- 
fore Skull and Bones was founded, I. K. A. 
(not Greek), appeared at Washington, now 
Trinity College, Hartford, Conn., and, like 
the former, has remained a local senior so- 
ciety ever since. In 1833 Union College 
gave birth to another fraternity, Psi Upsilon, 
which, within a few years, followed Alpha 
Delta Phi, which led in placing chapters in 
the then foremost colleges and universities. 
Alpha Delta Phi shocked some of the con- 
servative spirits of 1835 by placing chapters 
simultaneously at the University of New 
York and in what was then regarded as the 
far West, at Miami University, Oxford, 0. 
In 1836 it appeared at Columbia in New 
York city and at Amherst; in 1837 at Yale, 
Harvard, and Brown, and in 1838 at the 
Cincinnati Law School; so that within six 
years it possessed nine chapters as contrasted 
with only four chapters of Phi Beta Kappa, 
four of Sigma Phi, one of Delta Phi, all 
older societies, and as compared with two 
chapters of Psi Upsilon. A brief account 
of the local, senior-class society, The Mysti- 
cal Seven,founded at Wesleyan University in 
1837 (since absorbed by Beta Theta Pi), may 
be found in the sketch of the Heptasophs, 
or Seven Wise Men. The advent of Alpha 
Delta Phi at Miami resulted in the forma- 
tion of Beta Theta Pi. In 1837 Psi Upsilon 
went to the University of New York, in 
1839 to Yale, and in 1840 to Brown, in 
which year Alpha Delta Phi was established 
at Hobart. In 1841 Union arose to the 
occasion again and gave birth to another, 
its fifth fraternity, Chi Psi, and in 1842, 
stimulated by the success of Skull and 
Bones at Yale, Scroll and Key made its ap- 
pearance there, to choose fifteen juniors 
annually and divide the honors, as far as 
possible, with the older senior society. In 
1844 a schism from the Yale Chapter of Psi 
Upsilon resulted in the formation of a third 
junior-year fraternity, Delta Kappa Epsilon, 
the only living society originating at Yale 



which has established chapters at other col- 
leges and has conformed to the college so- 
ciety system existing out of New Haven. 
Alpha Delta Phi, Psi Upsilon, and Delta 
Kappa Epsilon, for fifty years, have been 
closely associated in the minds of the mem- 
bers of the college world, and are fairly 
classed as the three great college fraterni- 
ties. They are great rivals and number 
many distinguished names in professional, 
political, commercial, and industrial life on 
the lists of their alumni. A large propor- 
tion of their chapters own their own houses 
or temples. At most of the older Eastern 
and Middle State colleges and universities 
chapters of two of these fraternities are to 
be found, and at many such institutions the 
three meet as rivals. In the latter instance, 
as pointed out by Baird,* the colleges are 
historic, which is due to the fact that forty 
years ago such colleges were the centres of 
the literary activity of the country. 

New chapters of Alpha Delta Phi, Psi 
Upsilon, Delta Kappa Epsilon, and Beta 
Theta Pi were established with comparative 
frequency between 1844 and 1861, the socie- 
ties ranking during that period about in the 
order named. During those years thirteen 
new college fraternities appeared to dispute 
supremacy, so far as possible, with those 
which were practically their inspiration, 
Zeta Psi at the University of New York in 
1846; Theta Delta Chi at Union in 1847; 
Delta Psi at Columbia in the same year; Phi 
Delta Theta at Miami, and Phi Gamma Delta 
at Washington and Jefferson in 1848; Phi 
Kappa Sigma at the University of Pennsyl- 
vania in 1850; Phi Kappa Psi at Jefferson 
in 1852; Sigma Chi at Miami in 1855; 
Sigma Alpha Epsilon at the University of 
Alabama in 1856; Chi Phi (southern) at 
the University of North Carolina in 1858; 
another Olii Phi, this at Hobart College in 
1860, and Delta Tau Delta at Bethany Col- 
lege in the same year. The original South- 
ern college fraternity, "The Kainbow," 

* American College Fraternities ; New York, 
James P. Downs, 1890. 



COLLEGE FRATERNITIES 335 

founded at the University of Mississippi in Kappa Psi, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Delta 

1842, believed to have been an off: shoot. from Tau Delta, Alpha Tau Omega, Kappa Alpha 

the Mystical Seven of Wesleyan, did not (southern) and Sigma Nu; the other, the 

live long. (See Order of the Heptasophs.) result of Psi Upsilon and Delta Kappa 

The Princeton and Hobart orders of Chi Epsilon stimulus, including Sigma Chi, 
Phi united in 1867, and the Southern order -Kappa Sigma, Pi Kappa Alpha, and Phi 

of Chi Phi joined them in 1874, when the Kappa Sigma. Among remaining promi- 

amalgamated orders took the name of the Chi nent societies Chi Psi and Theta Delta Chi 

Phi fraternity. After the Civil War there had their origin at Union, and Delta Psi 

was not much opportunity for new college and Zeta Psi in New York city, where Alpha 

fraternities to compete with those already in Delta Phi, Psi Upsilon, and Delta Phi had 

the field, except at the South, where chapters each preceded them. The foregoing sug- 

of Northern fraternities bad disappeared, gests a classification of college fraterni- 

As shown in an accompanying genealogical ties into general, honorary, professional, 

chart of these organizations, five Greek-let- women's, and local. 

ter fraternities were established at Southern The older societies in the first group may 

educational institutions between 1864 and be subdivided according to seniority and 

1870: Alpha Tau Omega at Virginia Mili- place of origin as follows: 
tary Institute, and Kappa Alpha (southern) 

at Washington-Lee University, Virginia, in General Fraternities. < 

1865; Kappa Sigma at the University of Union Triad. — Kappa Alpha, Sigma 

Virginia in 1867; Pi Kappa Alpha at the Phi, Delta Phi. 

same place in 1868, and Sigma Xu at the Historic Triad. — Alpha Delta Phi, Psi 
Virginia Military Institute in 1869, all of Upsilon, Delta Kappa Epsilon. 
which have sent out branches and prospered. Pennsylvania Triad. — Phi Gamma Del- 
Aside from the founding in 1884 of a third ta, Phi Kappa Sigma, Phi Kappa Psi. 
local senior society, Wolf's Head, at Yale, Double Triad (East). — Mystical Seven, 
the past twenty-seven years have developed Chi Psi, Zeta Psi, Theta Delta Chi, Delta 
few, if any, college fraternities of national Psi, Chi Phi (Princeton, 1854). 
repute except professional and women's so- Miami Triad (West). — Beta Theta Pi, 
cieties. The quarter of a century in this Phi Delta Theta, Sigma Chi. 
department of college life has witnessed a Triple Triad (South). — W. W. W., or 
rapid growth on the part of some fraterni- The Rainbow (dead), Sigma Alpha Epsilon, 
ties which, just after the war, were not Chi Phi (University of North Carolina), 
ranked among the first half dozen, and by Delta Tau Delta, Alpha Tau Omega, 
others, the development of abnormal con- Kappa Alpha, Kappa Sigma, Pi Kappa 
servatism, with a tendency to let well enough Alpha, Sigma Nu. 

alone, and in some instances to live on pres- The characteristics of the three earlier 
tige. An accompanying chart makes it plain fraternities at Union College are broadly 
that after Kappa Alpha, Sigma Phi, and marked. Twenty years ago and for a long 
Delta Phi at Union had given rise to Alpha time preceding, the membership of the few 
Delta Phi and to Psi Upsilon, the former chapters of Kappa Alpha (very few had or 
to Beta Theta Pi and the latter to Delta have been established) was limited and ex- 
Kappa Epsilon, that the line of propaga- elusive, while the policy of the fraternity 
tion, as it were, was divided. One course was distinctly one of non-extension. Its 
was the outcome of the activity of Alpha immediate imitator, Sigma Phi, was not 
Delta Phi and Beta Theta Pi, resulting in long in securing a like classification. It, 
Phi Gamma Delta, Phi Delta Theta, Phi too, had a restricted number of chapters, 



386 



COLLEGE FRATERNITIES 



and a tendency to regard the grandfather 
as having much to do with the man. Delta 
Phi was less exclusive, but did not establish 
many new chapters and has held to its 
♦earlier standard with less success than the 
other two. Baird says of the three great 
fraternities, Alpha Delta Phi, Psi Upsilon, 
and Delta Kappa Epsilon, that " they are 
rivals of each other more frequently than of 
other societies, and have the common char- 
acteristics of chapters of large size, literary 
work in their meetings, and wealth in their 
outward appointments." He thinks the 
first excels in literary spirit, the second in 
the cultivation of the social side of life, and 
that the third " occupies a middle ground." 
At Yale they are junior societies, and at 
that place, more often than otherwise, are 
stepping-stones to the senior societies. 
They^re found as rivals at Hamilton, Co- 
lumbia, Yale, Amherst, Brown, Bowdoin, 
Dartmouth, Michigan, Kochester, Wesleyan, 
Kenyon, Cornell, Trinity, and Minnesota; 
the first and third at Western Beserve, Wil- 
liams, and College of the City of New York; 
the second and third at Chicago and Syra- 
cuse, and the first two at Union. Psi Up- 
silon also has chapters at New York Uni- 
versity, University of Pennsylvania, and 
Lehigh; Alpha Delta Phi at Harvard, Johns 
Hopkins and Toronto; and Delta Kappa 
Epsilon at Colby, Lafayette, Colgate, But- 
gers, Middlebury, Bensselaer Polytechnic 
Institute, De Pauw, Central, Miami, Cali- 
fornia, Vanderbilt, Virginia, North Caro- 
lina, Alabama, and Mississippi. Alpha 
Delta Phi and Psi Upsilon continue to pay 
that attention to the social standing and lit- 
erary excellence among their members which 
has ever characterized almost all of the chap- 
ters of each, but are more conservative as 
to extension than formerly. Delta Kappa 
Epsilon is noticeable for good fellowship 
and numerous chapters, some of which, as 
noted, are at minor colleges. Beta Theta 
Pi, the first western fraternity, is now one 
of the largest and best governed. It places 
less weight on the propriety or desirability 



of what has been called conservatism with 
respect to increase of chapters and main- 
tains as high literary excellence among 
members as older and formerly more distin- 
guished fraternities. Chi Psi, while not so 
restricted as to number of chapters as Sigma 
Phi or Kappa Alpha, continues one of the 
smaller societies; its reputation is as much 
for good fellowship as for social or literary 
excellence. Zeta Psi was formerly one of 
the smaller fraternities, but adopted a policy 
of extension and has grown rapidly. It is 
very secret, was founded by Ereemasons, 
and in recent years has made a remarkable 
advance in standing and membership. The 
socially exclusive members of Delta Psi, like 
those of Sigma Phi and Kappa Alpha, do 
not add to their few chapters. There is 
considerable wealth centred in this organi- 
zation. Among western societies which 
have shown enterprise and have become 
prominent of late years are Phi Kappa Psi, 
Phi Delta Theta, and Phi Gamma Delta. 
Some of the relatively smaller or younger 
societies, such as Theta Delta Chi, the 
(amalgamated) Chi Phi, Sigma Chi, and 
Delta Tau Delta, are particularly strong at 
a number of colleges. The fraternities in 
the Pennsylvania and Miami groups, as a 
whole, have paid more attention to exten- 
sion than to the exclusiveness which has 
marked societies forming the Union, His- 
toric, and Double Triads. Most of the Chap- 
ters of the Southern group are confined to 
colleges in the South. Since 1880, Beta 
Theta Pi, Phi Delta Theta, Delta Tau 
Delta, Phi Kappa Psi, Sigma Chi, and 
Phi Gamma Delta, which, prior thereto, 
were found almost exclusively in western 
and southern colleges, began to invade col- 
leges and universities of the North and 
East, where to-day, in some instances, they 
dispute supremacy with older fraternities. 

Honorary Fraternities. 

Phi Beta Kappa; Chi Delta Theta, local, 
Yale, and Sigma Xi, local, Cornell, 1886. 



COLLEGE FRATERNITIES 



337 



Professional Fraternities. 

Theta Xi, English and scientific, Rens- 
selaer Polytechnic Institute, 1864; four 
chapters in 1890 ; membership estimated, 
450. 

Phi Delta Phi, law, University of Michi- 
gan, 1869; sixteen chapters in 1890; member- 
ship in 1897 estimated, 2,000. 

Q. T. V., (not Greek-letter), agricultural 
and scientific, Massachusetts Agricultural 
College, 1869; four chapters in 1890; mem- 
bership estimated, 650. 

Phi Sigma Kappa, scientific and medical, 
Massachusetts Agricultural College, 1873; 
three chapters in 1890; membership esti- 
mated, 210. 

Xu Sigma Xu, medical, University of 
Michigan, 1882; three chapters in 1890; 
membership in 1897 estimated, 200. 

Alpha Chi Omega, music (women stu- 
dents), De Pauw University, 1885 ; two chap- 
ters in 1890; membership estimated, 200. 

Phi Alpha Sigma, medical, Bellevue Hos- 
pital, 1887; two chapters and an estimated 
membership of 150. 

College Sisterhoods. 

Pi Beta Phi, founded at Monmouth Col- 
lege, Illinois, by eleven young women; 
originally called the I. C. Sorosis, now 
known by the Greek letters which, placed 
on the feather of a golden arrow, constitute 
the society's badge; colors are wine red and 
pale blue and its flower is the carnation; 
there were nineteen chapters reported in 
1890 in Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, 
Michigan, Xebraska, Colorado, District of 
Columbia, Ohio, and Minnesota. Total 
membership is probably not over 1,600. 

Kappa Kappa Gamma, organized at Mon- 
mouth, 111., 1870, by four young women, 
in preference to accepting membership in a 
proposed sisterhood. It spread to colleges 
through the central western and north- 
western States, and by 1890 had twenty-two 
active chapters, with a form of government 
similar to that of many Greek-letter fraterni- 



ties. Its colors are dark and light blue, and 
the badge is a jewelled key with the letters 
Kappa Kappa Gamma and Alpha Omega 
Omicron enamelled in black thereon. Pres- 
ent membership, about 2,200. 

-Kappa Alpha Theta, organized at De 
Pauw University, Indiana, in 1870, by a 
daughter of a member of the Beta Theta Pi, 
and three other women students, assisted by 
the father of the founder. Its government 
was vested in the parent chapter until 1883, 
when it was placed in the hands of a Grand 
Chapter composed of one member from each 
chapter. Its flower is the pansy, its colors 
are black and gold and its badge is a kite- 
shaped shield with a black field and white 
chevron bearing the Greek letters forming 
its name. Its twenty active chapters in 1890 
were scattered through the central western 
and northwestern States, with a few in 
California, Pennsylvania, Xew York, and 
Vermont. Present membership is approxi- 
mately 1,900. 

Delta Gamma, founded at the University 
of Mississippi, in 1872, by three women, the 
outgrowth of a social organization at a neigh- 
boring educational institution. The twelve 
active chapters in 1890 were distributed 
through southern, central, northwestern, 
a few far western, and in eastern States. 
March 15 is observed as a day of reunion, 
when the alumni, so far as possible, visit 
active chapters or communicate with them 
by mail. A Grand (governing) and Deputy 
Grand Chapter is chosen every four years. 
There are alumni chapters at Cleveland, 
Milwaukee, Chicago, and other cities. Its 
colors are pink, blue, and bronze, and the 
pearl rose is the society flower. The badge 
is a gold anchor, with a shield above the 
flukes bearing the letters forming the name 
of the organization. 

Alpha Phi, founded at Syracuse Univer- 
sity, in 1872, by ten women students. Xine 
years later it established the second or Beta 
Chapter, that at Xorth western University, 
but has continued a conservative policy in 
this respect, having formed only five chapters 



338 



COLLEGE FRATERNITIES 



by 1890, the others being at Boston Uni- 
versity, De Pauw, and Cornell. There 
are several alumni chapters. The first so- 
ciety chapter house among Greek-letter sis- 
terhoods was erected by the Alpha (Syra- 
cuse) Chapter of Alpha Phi. Lilies of the 
valley and forget-me-nots are the flowers of 
the sisterhood. Its colors are silver gray 
and red, and its badge is a monogram 
formed of the letters composing its name. 
Frances Willard, late President of the W. C. 
T. U., was one of its alumnae. 

Gramma Phi Beta, founded at Syracuse 
University, 1874, by four women students, 
aided by Bishop E. 0. Haven, then Chancel- 
lor of the University. Its four other chapters 
in 1890 were located at Ann Arbor, Uni- 
versity of Wisconsin, Boston University, 
and Northwestern University. The society 
flower is the carnation. Its colors are fawn 
and seal brown, and the badge is a mono- 
gram of the three Greek letters within a 
crescent. 

Sigma Kappa was organized at Colby Uni- 
versity, Waterville, Me., 1874. Estimated 
membership 130. 

Alpha Beta Tau was founded in 1881, at 
Oxford Eemale Institute, Oxford, Miss., 
with a branch at the University of Missis- 
sippi. Its total membership is about 290. 

P. E. O. (Not Greek-letter.) Little is 
known of this society, which exists West 
and South, both at and without college cities 
and towns. There appears to be an especial 
element of secrecy attached to it. Its 
membership, has been estimated at about 
2,000. 

Delta Delta Delta was organized in 1888 
at Boston University by four young women. 
In 1890 it had five chapters. It is governed 
by convention, and during recess by the 
officers and parent chapter. It displays the 
pansy, gold, silver, and blue colors, and a 
badge consisting of a crescent with three 
deltas upon it and three stars between the 
horns. Its membership is about 300. 

Beta Sigma Omicron was founded at the 
University of Missouri in 1889. 



Local Fraternities. 

I. K. A. (not Greek), Trinity, 1829. 
Founded by six students of the classes of 
'29, '30, and '32. Its color is royal purple. 
The badge is a St. Andrew's cross, bearing 
the initials of its title on three of the arms, 
and 1776 on the fourth. Eev. Thomas 
Gallaudet, St. Ann's, New York, and Eev. 
George Mallory, editor of the "Church- 
man," New York, are among its best known 
alumni. 

Skull and Bones was founded at Yale Col- 
lege, as a senior society, by fifteen members 
of the class of 1832. A writer in the New 
York "Tribune," in 1896, states that : 

The father of "Bones," first of the senior socie- 
ties, is believed to have been General William H. 
Russell, '37, who died a few years ago, after hav- 
ing been for many years at the head of a famous 
military academy in the city of New Haven. It is 
a part of college tradition that " Bones " is a branch 
of a university corps in Germany, in which country 
General Russell spent some time before his gradua- 
tion. One of the classmates who joined with him 
in establishing the society at Yale was the late 
Alphonso Taft of Cincinnati, President Hayes's 
Attorney-General. The society flourished from the 
start. For a long time it held its meetings in hired 
rooms ; but in 1856 the windowless, vine-covered 
brown stone hall in High Street, near Chapel Street, 
opposite the campus, was erected. A few years ago 
the society found more space necessary and built a 
large wing to the hall. The building is about 30 
feet high, 33 feet wide, and 44 feet deep. The^ 
property is held by the Russell Trust Association, 
a name assumed in honor of General Russell. On 
the last Thursday in May the entire college assem- 
bles before Durfee Hall, among whom the juniors 
are conspicuous, for they all know that lightning 
is to strike forty-five of them. Soon a "Bones" 
man appears who, however good natured, wears a 
solemn look as he passes in and out among the 
crowd. Suddenly he taps or slaps a junior on the 
shoulder,* and says sternly, "Go to your room." 
Amid wild cheering the lucky man obeys mutely, 
followed by the one who tapped him, who says, 
" Will you accept an election to the society known 
as ' Skull and Bones ? ' " and goes away in silence, 
while the junior returns to receive the congratula- 
tions of friends. About the same time a " Keys " 

* Secret Societies at Yale. Rupert Hughes, Mc- 
Clure's Magazine, June, 1894. 









1 Phi Beta Kappa. 


11776 
















[Era of Latin-named 


College Societies.] 








- 1770— 


—1825. 


1821 


XJ6>, Tale 






1S22 










1823 










1824 




X<£, Princeton. ^^ ^^ 


1825 






S~ K. A. >^ 


1826 


















182-? 






^/2#. Tria«L M .d*., \ 












1828 






/ V 












iter 




1KA 


Trinity 
















1830 






















1?31 






















1932 


Skull and Bones, Tale. 


AA$, Hamilton. 














1833 








!T. Union. 












1834 






















1S35 




























18:36 






















1837 






Mystical 7. Wesleyan. 














Iff38 


























iS3<» 








BO n, Miami. 














1S40 
























1841 
















XV, Union. 






1842 


Scroll and Key. Yale 


The Rainbow. Uc 


„>„„. ]! 














1843 




























1844 








JKE. Yale. 












1845 






















1846 


















Unrv. X. Y.. ZV. 


1847 














47. Colum. 










1 


OJX, Union. 


1848 






*rA. Wash. & Jeff. 1 


JH. Miami. 










1849 




















1850 










•PKS. Univ. 


Pa. 






1851 
























1852 






#A'V. Jeff.. Pa. 














1853 




















1854 




X*. Princeton. 














1855 








2X, Mia 


hi. 






1856 






SAE. Oniv Ala^ - 








1857" 






i 








1858 




X*. N.C. Univ. 












1859 






















1860 




XP. Hobart 


JTJ, Bethany. 










1861 
















1862 
















1863 
















1864 
















1865 




ATfi., Va. -Mil. Inst. RA So.. Wash-Lee. 








1866 






1 






1867 






K2. Univ. Va. 




1868 










a., DKJ... 


^^""™™ L '" ■ ' 


1869 




2."V. Va. Mil. Inst. 


1884 


Wolf a Head. Yale. 







GENEALOGICAL CHART OF GENERAL, GREEK-LETTER, COLLEGE FRATER- 
NITIES IN THE UNITED STATES. 



340 



COLLEGE FRATERNITIES 



man, and a "Wolf's Head " man in his wake, go 
through the same evolutions. Between "tapping 
time " and initiation a week elapses. During this 
time the slapper and the slapped preserve a sacred 
mutual silence, except when the new man is noti- 
fied of the time and place of the awful ordeal, to be 
consummated in the recesses of the society house. 

This peculiar ceremony of nominating or 
choosing new members of the Yale senior 
societies, original there with Skull and 
Bones and imitated by "Keys" and by 
Wolf's Head, is, doubtless, derived from 
the accolade, or conferring of knighthood, 
in ancient times an embrace, but more re- 
cently a blow on the shoulder with the flat 
of a sword. But still more singular is the 
custom of the Yale juniors in assembling on 
the campus between four and six o'clock, 
on the particular Thursday in May, accom- 
panied by half the college, and hundreds of 
other spectators, entirely without announce- 
ment from or arrangement by any one. 
The writer first referred to points out, in 
addition to the fact that Yale's senior so- 
cieties meet Thursday nights in closely 
guarded society houses, that a "Bones" 
man, while in college, is never without his 
badge, a skull and bones, with the figures 
"322" in place of the lower jaw; that if 
in swimming without bathing costume, he 
carries it in his mouth; that one of the 
newly chosen "Bones" men wears two 
(overlapped) badges for six months, and 
that the "sanctum sanctorum" in the 
" Bones " house is referred to by the figures 
"322." There is a tradition, however, 
that the "322," the sum of which is the 
perfect number and suggests a "mystical 
seven," means "founded in '32, 2d chap- 
ter " (the first being " the German corps "); 
also, that the members trace their society 
" to a Greek patriot organization, dating 
back to Demosthenes, 322 B.C. The i Bones ' 
records of 1881, it is alleged, are headed 
' Anno-Demotheni 2203.'" An election 
to "Bones" is generally the secret ambi- 
tion of almost all Yale men, even over the 
bones of the Greek-letter societies, although 
Scroll and Key, and Wolf's Head, of late, 



have made such strides as to frequently dis- 
pute the first place which the older senior 
society has had in the minds of available 
material. "Bones" generally elects honor 
men and athletic stars. Scroll and Key 
takes men of the same rank, but more fre- 
quently from among the social element, 
while Wolf's Head has taken men which 
might have been welcome additions to either 
"Bones" or "Keys." The following are 
the names of some of the better known Yale 
graduates who are " Bones" men : President 
Dwight, Ellis H. Eoberts, William W. 
Orapo, Daniel C. Gilman, Andrew D. 
White, Ohauncey M. Depew, Moses Coit 
Tyler, Eugene Schuyler, William Walter 
Phelps, Anthony Higgins, Daniel H. Cham- 
berlain, Eranklin McVeagh, William Col- 
lins Whitney, William Graham Sumner, 
George Peabody Wetmore, Wilson Shannon 
Bissell, John C. Eno, Theodore S. Woolsey, 
Walker Blaine, Arthur T. Ptadley, Bobert 
J. Cook, Judge William H. Taft, Walter 
Camp, Sheffield Phelps, and Alonzo A. 
Stagg. The three historic junior societies 
at Yale are Alpha Delta Phi, Psi Upsilon, 
and Delta Kappa Epsilon, although Zeta 
Psi has figured there of late years as a sopho- 
more and junior society. Skull and Bones, 
Scroll and Key, and Wolf's Head, as a mat- 
ter of practice, each elect fifteen members 
annually, generally from among members 
of the first three societies named, seldom 
from members of that last named, and still 
less frequently elect a junior who is not a 
member of any of the Greek-letter fra- 
ternities. 

- Lambda Iota was founded at the Univer- 
sity of Vermont by thirteen students, where 
it has since maintained a prosperous exist- 
ence. Its badge consists of an owl on the 
top of a column or pillar between the let- 
ters forming the society's name. It num- 
bers three governors of Vermont among its 
alumni. Its membership is more than 400. 
Scroll and Key was founded at Yale in 
1841, by members of the class of '42, as a 
rival senior society to Skull and Bones, most 



COLLEGE FRATERNITIES 



341 



of the peculiarities of which it copied. (See 
Skull and Bones.) It celebrated its fiftieth 
anniversary with a three days' jubilee in 
May, 1892, in its society house at New 
Haven, one of the handsomest structures of 
the kind in the country. It is incorporated 
as the Kingsley Trust Association. It is 
related that on the nights when the society 
meets all the active "Keys" men in Xew 
Haven are required to be in the society 
house from half-past six until half-past 
twelve, and that none of them is allowed to 
leave the building during that period, " un- 
less accompanied by another man." In 
preserving a deep mystery about its affairs, 
in not mentioning the society in the pres- 
ence of an outsider, and in retaining con- 
stant possession of badges by undergraduate 
members, "Ke} T s" parallels its prototype. 
While members of the latter wear their 
badges on their vests, "Keys" men fre- 
quently wear theirs on their neckties. The 
" Keys " badge consists of a gold key across 
a scroll, with the letters " C. S. P." above, 
and " C. C. I." below. It selects annually 
fifteen members of the junior class by the 
same process described as originating with 
Skull and Bones. Its membership, on the 
whole, is characterized as conspicuous for 
social standing and wealth rather than for 
college or athletic honors, though many 
Yale athletes and honor men have joined 
it. Among its prominent graduates are 
Theodore Eunyon, John Addison Porter, 
George Shiras, General Wager Swayne, the 
Rev. Joseph IT. Twitchell, Dr. James W. 
McLane, George A. Adee, Edward S. Dana, 
Isaac Bromley, Bartlett Arkell, and James 
R. Sheffield. 

Wolf's Head was founded at Yale by a 
number of members of the class of '84, 
as a rival senior society to Skull and Bones 
and to Scroll and Key. (See those soci- 
eties.) It copies most, if not all, of the 
peculiarities of the two older senior soci- 
eties. For a few years it was not rated as 
highly as either " Bones " or " Keys," and 
was able to take only the so-called better 



men in the Junior Class overlooked by 
"Bones" and "Keys;" but with the in- 
crease in the size of classes, and the fact 
that each of the senior societies takes only 
fifteen men each year, with increased age 
-and its handsome ivy-clad society house, 
Wolf's Head continues to gain upon its older 
rivals. It is incorporated as the Phelps 
Trust Association. Its badge consists of a 
wolf's head transfixed on an inverted Egyp- 
tian tau, the symbolism suggested by which 
is significant, yet probably different from 
that taught within the pale of the society. 

Phi Xu Theta was organized at Wesleyan 
University, 1837, shortly after the appear- 
ance there of the Mystical Seven which is now 
dead, and in some respects one of the most 
remarkable college societies in the country. 
Phi Xu Theta sought to bring together a 
few members of each class for mutual help- 
fulness and within the past sixty years has 
initiated about 160 members. It has a 
handsome house, and ranks well among 
Middletown college fraternities. Its badge 
is a scroll watch-key with the letters form- 
ing its name engraved thereon. Among its 
alumni are Rev. Dr. Winchell, formerly of 
Syracuse University, the late Bishop Haven 
and Professor W. 0. At water. 

Kappa Kappa Kappa. Founded at Dart- 
mouth, Hanover, X. II., in 1842, by six 
students, assisted by Professor C. B. Had- 
dock, the year following the appearance of 
Scroll and Key at Yale. It numbers about 
850 members. The badge is a Corinthian 
column and capital of gold with the letters 
K. K. K. at the base. It has generally 
ranked with other fraternities at Dart- 
mouth. 

Delta Psi. Organized at the University 
of Vermont in 1850. For a few years it was 
an anti -secret society. It has no connection 
with the fraternity by the same name which 
was founded at Columbia in 1847. It num- 
bers about 350 members. 

Alpha Sigma Pi. Organized at Xorwich 
University, Vermont, in 1857, by seven stu- 
dents. The military character of the society 



342 



COLLEGE FRATERMIT1ES 



was the natural outcome of the college 
where it appeared. Its colors are blue and 
white, and the badge is a gold shield dis- 
playing a flag and musket crossed over a 
drum and the Greek letters forming the 
name of the organization. Present mem- 
bership, about 290. General Granville M. 
Dodge is, perhaps, its most widely known 
alumnus. 

Phi Zeta Mu was organized in the scientific 
school, Dartmouth, in 1857, by five stu- 
dents, members of '58 and '59. It has a 
monogram badge, a fine society building, 
and about 400 members. 

Alpha Sigma Phi was founded at Yale in 
1846 as a sophomore society. It established 
chapters at Harvard in 1850, Amherst in 
1857, Marietta College, Ohio, in 1860, and 
at Ohio Wesley an University in 1865. The 
parent chapter died from internal disagree- 
ments, the first two branches were sup- 
pressed by college faculties, and the fourth 
was withdrawn by the society itself, which 
flourishes, therefore, solely at Marietta Col- 
lege. It has about 300 names in its cata- 
logue, and there are several organizations of 
its alumni. The society has a fine house. 
Its badge consists of a shield bearing an 
open book on which are hieroglyphics, across 
it a quill and letters forming the name of 
the society. 

Berzelius was established at Sheffield, Yale 
College, in 1863. Its membership is about 
370. The badge " is a combination of pot- 
ash bulbs in gold," over which is the letter 
" B." It ranks high among Yale scientific 
students. 

Sigma Delta Chi was founded at Sheffield 
Scientific School, Yale, in 1867. It is some- 
times referred to as Book and Snake, because 
its badge consists of an open book display- 
ing the letters Sigma Delta Chi, surrounded 
by a serpent. It is prosperous and has 
about 300 members. 

The foregoing makes it plain that the 
secret society system at Yale is something 
radically different from that at other col- 
leges. The difference may be made clear 



by stating that at almost all colleges the 
freshman who receives a bid from and joins 
a Greek-letter fraternity unites with an in- 
terstate or national society which represents 
the social, literary, and human side of col- 
lege life and binds him closely to itself not 
only while an undergraduate, but for life. 

At Yale when there used to be freshmen 
as well as sophomore, junior, and senior 
societies, the same general cliques or group 
of ' ' fellows ' ' were taken into the same 
freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior soci- 
eties in a mass, a sort of four degrees system, 
each society representing a different "de- 
gree." The freshmen societies were merely 
Yale affairs, with no ligaments reaching to 
other colleges, and the like is true to-day of 
Yale's sophomore societies. Its three j unior 
fraternities are, indeed, parts of as many 
national college societies, with a prestige 
not second even to Yale's senior societies, 
but one must leave the shadows of Yale to 
appreciate the fact. The Yale senior soci- 
eties, owing to this exceptional and unfor- 
tunate system so far as the Yale sophomore 
and junior societies are concerned, are goals, 
and the sophomore and junior societies are 
merely ste}) ping- stones. Twenty-five years 
ago the rival freshmen societies were " D. 
K." (Delta Kappa) and "Sigma Epps " 
(Kappa Sigma Epsilon). The sophomore 
members endeavored to select freshmen most 
likely to make a mark while in college, and 
great efforts were made by the rival soci- 
eties to outwit each other and get " the best 
men. ' ' When the initiation ceremonies were 
held, a month later, the sophomores felt 
that they were rewarded for their trouble. A 
correspondent of the New York " Sun " has 
described substantially what took place at 
the initiation of freshmen during the palmy 
days of " D. K." and "Sigma Epps," as 
follows : 

The candidate received a black-bordered notifica- 
tion of his election, with instructions to repair the 
following evening to some remote street corner. 
There he was met by two sophomore members who 
straightway blindfolded him and grasped him 



COLLEGE FRATERNITIES 



firmly on either side. Then ensued a Walhalla 
dance through bypath and wood and dell. Now 
the candidate was run at full speed against a tree, 
now he trembled astride a picket fence, now the 
bandage was slipped so as to give one glance of an 
open grave or the dizzy verge of East flock. Then, 
after many miles and countless turns, he was hur- 
ried, all panting, struggling, and stumbling, through 
a busy street, made evident by jostlings and derisive 
calls. He was forced step by step to mount back- 
ward a seemingly interminable flight of stairs, and 
to wait in a close and heated room until there was 
a sudden upward jerk, the bandage was removed, 
and he found himself oh the roof of a high building 
with others of his classmates, equally confused and 
exhausted. When at length the candidate's name 
was called in sombre tones he advanced all uncer- 
tain to the scuttle. There he was bound and blind- 
folded. Strong arms grasped him from above and 
from below. He descended rapidly with many a 
bump. He was dragged into the main hall, flung 
into a great canvas blanket with rope handles, and 
then, with all the force of a score of excited y6ung 
devotees, tossed and slapped again and again 
against the lofty ceiling. He was rolled in a cask 
and nailed in a coffin, and stretched on a guillotine 
with one blade— all to an accompaniment of sul- 
phurous smoke and lurid flashes and piercing yells 
of " My poor fresh." 

But these ceremonies were not always 
without unfortunate results, and at times 
were marked by a degree of hilariousness 
not explained entirely on the ground of good 
nature and a desire to look on the humorous 
side of life. The displeasure of the faculty 
was an outcome, and in 1880 the societies 
were abolished. The only remaining Yale 
freshman fraternity, Gamma Nu, founded 
in 1850 as a non-secret, literary society, 
died from internal weakness in 1889, since 
which time Yale Greek-letter or other 
secret freshmen societies have been extinct. 
Twenty-five years ago Yale's sophomore fra- 
ternities were Phi Theta Psi and Delta Beta 
Xi, founded on the ruins, as it were, of 
Kappa Sigma Phi and Alpha Sigma Theta. 
The first, called " Theta Psi," was practi- 
cally a stepping-stone to Psi Upsilon, and 
" Delta Beta " was an ante-room leading to 
the sanctum sanctorum of Delta Kappa 
Epsilon. They took about thirty men each 
and held weekly meetings, features of which 




were mild-mannered literary exercises aud 
sometimes punch that was anything but 
mild. So serious were the results of one 
occasion of that kind, in 1878, that the fac- 
ulty unceremoniously "twisted the neck" 
of the "phoenix of Theta Psi," and closed 
" the book of Delta Beta forever." The two 
existing sophomore societies are He Boule 
and Eta Phi, the first formed in 1875 and 
the latter in 1879, among the most pow- 
erful organizations at Yale, it being seldom 
that a member of each fails of an election 
to the junior societies. They are almost if 
not quite as secret in their workings as the 
senior societies, and constitute a formidable 
factor in college politics. The names of the 
seventeen members of each, together with 
their places of meeting, are confidently be- 
lieved by members to be unknown to the 
outside world; and while, as a matter of 
fact, such is seldom or never the case, the 
fiction is encouraged. The owl and initials 
of He Boule and the mask of Eta Phi are 
worn near the left armholes of the waist- 
coat. Alpha Delta Phi, Psi Upsilon, and 
Delta Kappa Epsilon of national fame, with 
chapters at many other colleges, each takes 
thirty-five sophomores at the end of the 
year. Zeta Psi, a two-year society at Yale, 
also takes its quota. As explained in the 
sketch of Skull and Bones, these elections 
have an important bearing on the chances 
of those selected for securing member- 
ship in one of the three senior societies. 
About twenty-five years ago Alpha Delta 
Phi refused to continue to be made a means 
to an end, merely an entryway to a senior 
society, and withdrew its Yale Chapter. 
For nearly a score of years thereafter Psi 
Upsilon and Delta Kappa Epsilon monopo- 
lized desirable junior classmen on their way 
to "Bones" and "Keys," and after 1884 
to Wolf's Head. Six or seven years ago 
Alpha Delta Phi revived its Yale Chapter, 
the oldest secret society at. Yale except Skull 
and Bones, as a four-year fraternity, and 
tried to make it a Yale organization on a 
par with even the senior year fraternities. 



344 



COLLEGE FRATERNITIES 



It met with only moderate success, owing to 
the overpowering weight of Yale sentiment 
in favor of class societies, and within a few 
years accepted the situation, became a junior 
society again, so far as that chapter is 
coucerned, built one of the handsomest and 
most expensive fraternity houses at New 
Haven, and revived its ancient standing as 
a worthy rival of the Yale variety of Psi 
Upsilon and Delta Kappa Epsilon. 

This junior society rivalry^ however, is 
more on the surface than otherwise, the 
three fraternities being practically private 
social clubs which meet separately, of 
course, to cooperate in the production of 
plays and burlesques and in even more dis- 
tinctively social entertainments. The " Al- 
pha Delt," " Psi U," and " Deke " halls, 
or houses, at. New Haven are among the 
most elaborate and costly structures of the 
kind in the country. In the week prior to 
the "tapping" ceremonial of the senior so- 
cieties, in May (see Skull aud Bones), the 
junior societies appear on the campus at- 
tired in gowns and hoods, singing each its 
own peculiar songs, after which they retire 
to their several buildings and proceed to in- 
itiate the thirty-five newly fledged members 
who are to act as heirs and assigns of these 
fraternities for the ensuing college year. 

The inspiration, development, rituals, 
and function of the general college fra- 
ternities, those which do not live in vain, 
which hold the remembrance and affection 
of members well on into their declining 
years, which often divide the regard felt 
for alma mater, call for an analysis which 
the mere chronicler may well be excused for 
not attempting. A recent writer stated that 
" many men who have belonged to a Greek- 
letter society during their undergraduate 
days lose interest in the matter before they 
are five years away from their alma mater. 
This is almost inevitable because of new in- 
terests and because a large number of grad- 
uates are not associated in their homes with 
men who belong to their fraternity." One 
can hardly refrain from believing the author 



of the sentiment is a Yale man. The 
"Bones" or "Keys" graduate of Yale 
might naturally find the height of his am- 
bition in an election to a senior society. 
Neither his sophomore nor junior year fra- 
ternities cuts much of a figure beyond the 
fact that he used them in an effort to get to 
"Bones," "Keys," or Wolf's Head. But 
the alumnus of Cornell, Columbia, Amherst, 
the University of Michigan, and many other 
colleges, who is an "Alpha Delt," a "Psi 
U," a "Deke," a "Beta," a "Zete," a 
"Kap," a "Sig," or a member of any of a 
score of others with a national reputation, 
remains more often than otherwise a faith- 
ful son of such society so long as he lives, 
and treasures its records, its traditions and 
its influences to the latest days of his life. 
The Creek-letter fraternities antedate all 
other existing secret societies in America, 
except the fraternity of Freemasons. They 
vary more than might be supposed, for 
members are always convinced of the su- 
periority of their own fraternities over all 
rivals and confident of the greater loyalty 
of their own alumni. Some have elaborate 
rituals and others ceremonials which would- 
be regarded by good judges as common- 
place. The world at large, unfortunately, 
has had abundant evidence during the past 
twenty-five years of the sensational if not 
solemn character of the initiation ceremonies 
of some, as the results were such as to en- 
danger the lives of initiates. 

Heckethorn* and some others attribute the 
founding, in 1776, of Phi Beta Kappa, the 
mother of American college Greek-letter fra- 
ternities, to the Illuminati, of Weishaupt, in 
Bavaria, but this is undoubtedly mere con- 
jecture. The Illuminati itself was founded 
in 1776, and it is hardly likely that a few 
boys at the College of William and Mary in 
Virginia, in those days of extremely infre- 
quent letter-writing and trans- Atlantic 
voyages, were inspired in their formation 
of a Greek-letter secret society by the 

* Secret Societies of All Ages. 



College of 
William and Mary 



Phi Beta Kappj 



Williamsburg. 
Virginia, 1776. 



Phi Beta Kappa, Yale, 1780. 



Phi Beta Kappa, Harvard, 1781. 



Phi Beta Kappa, Dartmouth, 1787.. 



Phi Beta Kappa, Union, 1817. 



Chi Delta Theta, Yale, 1821. 



Chi Phi, Princeton. 1824 



I 

Sigma Phi, Union, 1827. 



Kappa Alpha, Union, 1825. 
» 



Delta Phi, Union. 



Phi Beta Kappa, Trinity, 1829. 
I. K. A.. Trinity, 1829. 
Phi Beta Kappa, Brown, 1829. 
Phi Beta Kappa. Bowdoin, 1829. 



Alpha Delta Phi, 
Hamilton, 



Psi Upsilon, Union, 1833. 



Beta Theta Pi, Miami, 1839. 

Delta Kappa Epsilon. Yale, 1844. 



GENEALOGICAL CHART OF EARLIER CHAPTERS OF PHI BETA KAPPA, 

AND THE BETTER KNOWN COLLEGE FRATERNITIES 

IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING THEM. 



346 



COLLEGE FRATERNITIES 



illustrious foreigner whose name is linked 
to an order which for a short time was 
grafted upon Freemasonry and then dis- 
appeared forever. There is no reason for 
believing that American college Greek- 
letter societies had any inspiration be- 
yond what appeared on the surface, until 
after 1828, the year following the disappear- 
ance of Morgan, who was accused of being 
about to betray Masonic secrets. In that 
and several succeeding years politicians 
made use of this " good enough Morgan un- 
til after election, ' ' and so fanned the anti- 
Masonic name that thousands of well-mean- 
ing people discovered prejudices against the 
fraternity which they never till then sus- 
pected themselves of possessing. Keference 
has been made to the effect on John Quincy 
Adams, Edward Everett, and others, and 
the history of that time will reveal some, 
notably Thurlow Weed, who were less sin- 
cere in their antagonism to Freemasonry, 
even though no less bitter. This presented 
an opportunity to cranks and charlatans 
which was not to be despised, and the coun- 
try was speedily flooded with supposititious 
accounts of Masonic ceremonies and alleged 
revelations of Masonic secrets. The public 
mind was directed to that subject as it never 
had been before, and probably never will be 
again. Secret societies of the middle ages, 
the mysteries of Isis and Osiris and of 
Eleusis, and the revolutionary secret societies 
of this and of other countries, all came in 
for a critical examination and premeditated 
condemnation and got both. The only im- 
portance attaching to this reference is to 
recall what seems not to have been pointed 
out before, that it was during the period 
from 1828 to 1845, covering the anti-Ma- 
sonic agitation, that the older among the 
best known national Greek-letter college 
fraternities were born. At that time the 
English Order of Foresters was just being 
introduced here; the English Order of Odd 
Fellows had not been domesticated more 
than a decade and had only a few members; 
the English Order of Druids was a new- 



comer; the American Improved Order of 
Red Men, as at present organized, was only 
then taking shape, and the Ancient Order 
of Hibernians had j ust arrived at New York 
city from Ireland. Curiosity and prejudice 
had been mingled in an effort to find out 
something with which to condemn the type 
of the secret society, Freemasonry, and the 
effort resulted, among other things, in a 
study of secret societies in general. If one 
can read of groups of college students at 
New York and New England centres of in- 
telligence organizing Greek-letter secret so- 
cieties on the outward lines established by 
Phi Beta Kappa, Kappa Alpha, Sigma Phi, 
and Delta Phi without appreciating that 
they must have utilized some of the raw ma- 
terial which was floating in the air, he must 
be deficient in imagination. The societies 
which saw the light in 1825 and 1827, 
Kappa Alpha, Sigma Phi, and Delta Phi, 
probably did not have elaborate rituals at 
that time. There are those who know they 
had them later. Then came Alpha Delta 
Phi and Skull aud Bones in 1832, Psi Up- 
silon in 1833, Mystical Seven in 1837, Beta 
Theta Pi in 1839, Chi Psi and Scroll and 
Key in 1841, and Delta Kappa Epsilon in 
1844. In these one finds the practical in- 
spiration for all that came after in the fam- 
ily of Greek-letter societies. That college 
fraternities multiplied fast and grew rapidly 
during this period is more than significant. 
As a matter of fact, some of the better 
known college fraternities give unmistak- 
able evidence, to those of their members in 
a position to judge, of having rummaged in 
the bureau drawers of Freemasonry, Odd 
Fellowship, Forestry, the Templars, Knights 
of Malta, and other "orders" for ritualis- 
tic finery. Zeta Psi was founded by Free- 
masons. Delta Psi, Columbia, 1847, was 
dressed up by some one who had access to 
rituals of the bastard Masonic rices of Mis- 
raim and Memphis. Psi Upsilon hung its 
harp low on the tree of symbolic Masonry, 
while its offspring, Delta Kappa Epsilon, 
read up on the Vehmgerichte and ancient 



ALPHA DELTA PHI 



347 



Grecian mysteries before selecting a few 
ceremonials which would better fit nine- 
teenth-century college life. Theta Delta 
Chi went far afield and returned with the 
Forestic legend, while the earlier ''Alpha 
Delts " were evidently inspired by what 
they knew of Royal Arch Masonry and the 
Ked Cross degree as conferred in command- 
eries of Masonic Knights Templars. There 
would appear to be little room to-day for 
additions to the G-reek-letter world. There 
are too many of these fraternities already, 
and while there is no tendency on the part 
of stronger societies to unite, weaker ones 
occasionally find their way into older or 
stronger fraternities. The latter, having 
the prestige of age and a distinguished 
alumni, are naturally well-nigh invinci- 
ble. 

The general fraternities publish cata- 
logues containing, as estimated, about 111,- 
000 names, honorary about 6,500, pro- 
fessional 4,400, and the ladies, perhaps, 
9,000; in all about 131,000, a large pro- 
portion of which are of deceased mem- 
bers. 

Alpha Beta Tau. — Women's society. 
(See College Fraternities.) 

Alpha Chi Omega. — Professional (mu- 
sic) society. (See College Fraternities.) 

Alpha Delta Phi. — This is the oldest 
of the three great Greek-letter fraternities 
round which the secret society world re- 
volved between 1835 and 1870, and which 
to-day are associated with all that leads in 
this department of social and literary life in 
America. (See College Fraternities.) It 
was founded at Hamilton College, Clinton, 
N*. Y., in 1832, by Samuel Eels of the class 
of '32, aided by John C. Underwood of his 
own class; Loreuzo Latham, '32; and Oliver 
A. Morse and Henry L. Storrs of the class 
of '33. Sigma Phi had reached Hamilton 
in 1831 and Kappa Alpha sought to follow 
it a year later; but Eels and others who were 
approached by the "Kaps," and asked to 
form the Hamilton Chapter of the latter, ' 
after consideration declined the invitation 



and founded Alpha Delta Phi. The orig- 
inal ''Alpha Delt " badge was of gold, in 
the form of an oblong, with rounded cor- 
ners. It presented a field of black enamel 
containing a white crescent with the horns 
up, enclosing an upright, five-pointed, em- 
erald star. The field was bordered with a 
rope of gold and beneath the crescent was 
the date of foundation, 1832. On the re- 
verse, on plain gold, was engraved the name 
of the owner, his college and class, with a 
pair of crossed swords over the star and cres- 
cent upon the shaft of a conventionalized 
monument. The one star and the crescent 
are plainly a modification of the ancient em- 
blem, a crescent with seven stars, suggested, 
possibly, by the six stars of Phi Beta Kappa. 
The rope of gold requires no explanation. 
The crossed swords and the unbroken col- 
umn are easily traceable to the general at- 
tention given secret societies between 1828 
and 1835, and to the Masonic fraternity in 
particular, modifications of several of the 
ceremonies of which, in lodge, chapter, 
and command ery, may be found in even 
the modern Alpha Delta Phi ritual. The 
emblem more commonly in use by members 
to-day is a gold crescent containing a smaller, 
raised, black enamelled crescent, closely set 
about with pearls, and upon which in gold 
are the letters Alpha, Delta, and Phi. In 
the star, held by the points of the crescent, 
is a large emerald contrasting with pearls 
which surround it. This society, unlike 
almost all others of like nature, designates 
its chapters after the colleges where situ- 
ated or with some local name, instead of by 
Greek letters in the order of establishment. 
It was the first Greek-letter fraternity (ex- 
cepting Phi Beta Kappa) at Harvard, the 
University of New York, Columbia, Am- 
herst, Brown, Miami, Hobart, Bowdoin, 
Rochester, and the College of the City of 
New York, and may be said to have blazed 
the way for such prominent followers as Psi 
Upsilon, Beta Theta Pi, and Delta Kappa 
Epsilon during a quarter of a century pre- 
ceding the Civil War. Its Harvard Chapter, 



348 



ALPHA PHI 



1837, at first was of an extremely literary 
character, but later took in an extraordi- 
narily large number of members from each 
class, so that it lost, in a measure, a share 
of that sympathy with the other chapters 
which usually marks college fraternities. 
It finally lost its identity, and in 1858 be- 
came known as the "A. D. Club," which 
organization, having no connection with the 
fraternity, still continues to exist at Har- 
vard. The Harvard Chapter of Alpha 
Delta Phi was revived in 1879, and remains 
one of the best of the score or more which 
bear aloft the green and white and the star 
and. crescent. The war at Michigan Uni- 
versity between the faculty and chapters of 
Alpha Delta Phi, Beta Theta Pi, and Chi 
Psi, which lasted from 1845 to 1850-51, is 
treated under the title College Fraternities. 
Alpha Delta Phi has no alumni chapters, 
but there are several associations of its 
alumni, and in New York the Alpha Delta 
Phi club is one of the best of its kind in the 
city. Its Yale Chapter retrograded during 
the period 1870-72, and was withdrawn in 
the latter year. With Psi Upsilon and 
Delta Kappa Epsilon, Alpha Delta Phi had 
indulged in the luxury of being a junior 
society at Yale, permitting itself to be a 
stepping-stone merely to the (then) two 
senior societies. In the struggle to secure 
elections to one class society after another, 
loyalty to any one of the societies not re- 
garded there as the goal was likely to be- 
come a name only. For nearly twenty years 
Alpha Delta Phi remained away from Yale, 
and then returned to make an effort to hold 
its own as a four-year society, in the face of 
the dominant Yale sentiment favoring sepa- 
rate societies in the sophomore, junior, and 
senior years. It made a partial success of 
it, but finally concluded not to try to swim 
against the stream, built itself a magnificent 
society house and locked horns, as of old, 
with its two former junior society rivals, 
with which it, as elsewhere, does not fail to 
hold its own. (See College Fraternities for 
further details concerning the secret society 



system at Yale.) The government of Alpha 
Delta Phi is by means of an Executive Coun- 
cil (incorporated) consisting of the Presi- 
dent, Secretary, and Eecorder, ex-officio ; 
nine members at large, the terms of three of 
whom expire each year, one representative 
of each inactive (or dormant) chapter and 
two from each active chapter. This body 
transacts business through an executive 
committee of nine, and makes account of 
its stewardship to the annual convention. 
Among members whose names are most 
familiar are United States Senators Pugh, 
Allison, and Squire; United States Treas- 
urer Ellis H. Eoberts; Congressmen W. W. 
Crapo, W. S. Groesbeck, Jay A. Hubbell; 
Edward F. Noyes, ex-Minister to France; 
John Jay, ex-Minister to Austria; Charles 
Emory Smith, ex-Minister to Eussia; James 
E. Lowell, ex-Minister to England; James 
0. Putnam, ex-Minister to Belgium; J. 
Meredith Eead, ex-Minister to Greece; Hor- 
ace Maynard, ex-Minister to Turkey; Judge 
Blatchford of the United States Supreme 
Court; Judges Wallace and Coxe of the 
United States Circuit Court; Joseph A. 
Choate, Clarence A. Seward, James C. Car- 
ter, Everett P. Wheeler, and Francis Lynde 
Stetson, among leading members of the bar; 
Eev. Dr. E. S. Storrs, Bishops Brewer, 
Brooks, Coxe, Harris, Huntington, Lyman, 
Stevens, Wells, Whitehead, and Watson of 
the Protestant Episcopal Church; Presi- 
dents Eliot of Harvard, Gilman of Johns 
Hopkins, and D wight of Yale; Edward 
Everett Hale, Donald G. Mitchell, Moses 
Coit Tyler, Charles Francis Adams, Jr., 
Manton Marble, and Francis Parkman. 
The fraternity membership list to-day con- 
tains more than 7,000 names. 

Alplia Phi. — Women's society. (See 
College Fraternities.) 

Alpha Sigma Phi. — Local fraternity at 
Marietta College, Ohio. (See College Fra- 
ternities.) 

Alpha Sigma Pi. — Local society at 
Norwich University, Vermont. (See Col- 
lege Fraternities.) 



BETA THETA PI 



349 



Alpha Sigma Tlieta (extinct). — One 
of Yale's earlier local sophomore societies. 
(See College Fraternities.) 

Alpha Tau Omega. — A general Greek- 
letter college fraternity, founded at Rich- 
mond, Va., September 11, 1865, by Otis A. 
Glazebrook and Alfred Marshall of the class 
of '65, Virginia Military Institute, Lexing- 
ton, Va., and Alfred Marshall, then a recent 
graduate of the same institution. The 
parent chapter was, therefore, placed at the 
Virginia Military Institute, by which the 
Virginia Beta was established at Washington 
and Lee University. It pushed its way 
almost exclusively among Virginia, Tennes- 
see and Kentucky colleges for a number of 
years, when in 1881 it appeared at the Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania and at Muhlenburg 
in Pennsylvania, Stevens in New Jersey, 
Columbia in New York and Adrian in 
Michigan. Its policy of extension has since 
taken it to many Western, Southern, and 
Eastern Colleges, among them, Lehigh, 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cor- 
nell and the Universities of Vermont and 
Michigan. The government of the frater- 
nity vests in a congress of delegates from 
chapters, which meets biennially, the Grand 
officers and High Council, the latter chosen 
by the Congress and the Worthy High Chan- 
cellor, who represents the judicial branch 
and decides disputed points. The badge is 
a black enamelled gold Maltese cross, with- 
out the indentations, with a circular field at 
the centre, in which are the Tau, three stars, 
a crescent above and the clasped hands 
below. The letters Alpha and Omega on 
the arms of the cross, with the T at the 
centre, present the fraternity name vertically 
and horizontally. Total membership is 
about 3,250. C. P. Breckenridge, former 
Minister to Russia, and Walter H. Page, 
editor of the "Atlantic Monthly," are 
among its best known alumni. (See College 
Fraternities.) 

Berzelius (not Greek). A secret society 
at Sheffield Scientific School, Yale. (See 
College Fraternities.) 



Beta Sigma Omicron. — Women's soci- 
ety. (See College Fraternities.) 

Beta Tlieta Pi. — One of the Miami 

triad of college fraternities and the first 
Greek-letter society founded at Miami Uni- 
versity, Oxford, Ohio. It was founded in 
1839 by John Riley Knox, of the class of 
'39, and Samuel Taylor Marshall, of .'40, 
with whom were associated David Linton, 
James George Smith, Henry Hardin, John 
Holt Duncan, Michael Charles Ryan and 
Thomas Boston Gordon — the first named 
of the class of '39, the next four of '40, 
and the last of '41. Alpha Delta Phi had 
established a chapter at Miami in 1835, 
four years before, and its popularity and 
growing prestige are admitted having been 
the inspiration of or causes for the for- 
mation of Beta Theta Pi. The establish- 
ment of chapters of the latter through- 
out the West and South was rapid prior to 
the war, during which period some were 
"killed" by anti-fraternity college laws, 
and later by hostilities between the North 
and South. Beta Theta Pi absorbed the 
Mystical Seven fraternity in 1889, formed 
at Wesleyan in 1837, and the Alpha Sigma 
Chi in 1879, formed at Rutgers in 1873. 
(For particulars concerning the Mystical 
Seven, see Order of the Heptasophs, or Seven 
Wise Men.) For twenty-five years follow- 
ing the close of the Civil War, Beta Theta 
Pi followed what was regarded as a radical 
policy of extension. Besides absorbing two 
smaller fraternities, alumni and all, it estab- 
lished chapters at about thirty colleges be- 
tween 1865 and 1890, in many instances — 
notably at Johns Hopkins, the University 
of California, Lehigh, Columbia, Dart- 
mouth, and some larger and older Eastern 
colleges — challenging the respectful atten- 
tion of the representatives of the Greek- 
letter world which had preceded them. 
The badge of Beta Theta Pi is an eight- 
sided shield of gold, the sides of which 
turn inward. Along the edges a row of 
pearls encloses a field of black enamel which 
displays the letters Beta Theta Pi ; above 



350 



CHI DELTA THETA 



them a diamond encircled by a wreath of 
green gold, and below, the letters Alpha, 
Omega, Lambda, Theta. Its earlier badge 
was even still more snggestive of the Alpha 
Delta Phi slab badge, being an oblong with 
corners curved inward instead of rounded 
off, and the Beta Theta Pi under a crescent 
and three stars instead of the waxing moon 
and a single star. The crescent on the 
il Beta " badge ultimately became the 
wreath and diamond. The growth of the 
latter society has been aided by its absorp- 
tion of a number of local fraternities, and 
by a general disregard of the conservatism 
and exclusiveness in the matter of exten- 
sion preferred by some older societies. In 
this instance the innovation on the methods 
peculiar to most Greek-letter fraternities 
appear to have borne good fruit. Beta 
Theta Pi has more than sixty active and 
nearly twenty alumni chapters, and main- 
tains a summer resort at " Wooglin," Lake 
Chautauqua. One of its characteristics, in 
which it differs from nearly if not all other 
Greek-letter societies, is a form by means of 
which its members sign letters to one an- 
other in a manner untranslatable except by 
the initiated. The only parallel known to 
the writer is the form of signature used by 
members of the Royal Arcanum, a mutual 
assessment, beneficiary, secret society. 

Beta Theta Pi, incorporated, is governed 
by nine directors, the terms of three of 
whom expire each year, its general secre- 
tary, and the chiefs of subordinate districts 
into which the society is divided. Its mem- 
bership is estimated at about 10,000. The 
list of prominent alumni is a long one, and 
among the names are those of John 0. 
Bullit of Philadelphia ; Dr. Mendenhall 
of New York ; Albert G. Porter, ex-Minister 
to Italy ; Governors Francis of Missouri, 
Morton and Porter of Indiana, Hoadley of 
Ohio and Beaver of Pennsylvania ; William 
M. Springer, William D. Bynum ; Senators 
Daniel W. Voorhees, M. S. Quay, Joseph 
E. McDonald, B. Gratz Brown ; Stanley 
Matthews, and James M. Harlan and Wil- 



liam B. Woods of the Supreme Court of the 
United States. 

Chi Delta Theta. — Honorary, local, 
senior society at Yale. (See College Fra- 
ternities. ) 

Chi Phi. — A general, Greek-letter col- 
lege fraternity, resulting from the union 
of three similar organizations by that title, 
the eldest being that founded at Princeton, 
in 1854, by John McLean, Jr., Charles S. De 
Graw, and Gustavus W. Mayer, as a result of 
the alleged discovery of some old docu- 
ments purporting to be the constitution of 
a college social and religious society which 
existed at Princeton in 1824, the initials of 
the motto of which were Chi Phi. No 
evidence has been shown that the Chi Phi 
of 1824 ever had an active existence and 
the " old constitution " has been lost. The 
Chi Phi of 1854 succumbed to the anti-fra- 
ternity laws at Princeton in 1859, but w r as 
continued through its chapter at Franklin 
and Marshall, established in 1855, which in 
1867 placed a chapter at Pennsylvania Col- 
lege. In 1860 the Secret Order of Chi 
Phi was founded at Hobart College, New 
York, by Amos Brunson and Alexander J. 
Beach, of the class of '62, and ten others,, 
and established chapters at Kenyon in 1861, 
Princeton in 1864, and Butgers in 1867, in 
which year, after two years' negotiations, it 
united with the Princeton Order of Chi 
Phi, under title of the Northern Order of 
the same, in distinction from the Southern 
Order of like name, which was founded in 
1858, at the University of North Carolina, 
by Augustus W. Flythe of the class of '59, 
Thomas Capeheart and John C. Tucker of 
'61, and James J. Cherry of '62. The last of 
three Chi Phi fraternities was the most pros- 
perous prior to and after the war, establish- 
ing fifteen chapters throughout the south- 
ern States and maintaining a high social 
and literary standard of membership. After 
the war the Northern and Southern Orders 
were attracted to each other, more, perhaps, 
by the striking similarity of names and 
badges, a monogram formed of Chi and 



DELTA KAPPA EPSILON 



351 



Phi, than by any other characteristic com- 
mon to both, and after a pro]onged corre- 
spondence and negotiation they united in 
1874 under the title of Chi Phi Fraternity. 
Among the chapters established since 1875 
are those at Harvard, Stevens, the Univer- 
sities of Michigan, California, Pennsylvania, 
Sheffield, Yale, and Rensselear Polytechnic 
Institute. Two of the strong eastern chap- 
ters of Chi Phi are found at Amherst and 
Cornell, where they were placed by the 
Northern Order. The fraternity is gov- 
erned by convention, and during recess by 
a Grand Lodge composed of the president 
of the society and four members appointed 
by him. The total membership is about 
3, 900. Among prominent alumni the names 
of the late Henry W. Grady and Emory 
Speer are conspicuous. (See College Fra- 
ternities.) 

Chi Psi. — One of the larger among the 
smaller general Greek-letter college fra- 
ternities. It was founded at Union College, 
N. Y., in 1841, by Major-General James C. 
Duane, Judge Patrick U. Major, Philip 
Spencer, Colonel Alexander P. Berthoud, 
John Brush, Jr., Dr. Jacob A. Farrel, 
Robert H. McFadden, Samuel T. Taber, 
William F. Terhune, and James L. Wither- 
spoon, the fifth like society organized at 
Union, which college has been called the 
mother of fraternities. Within nineteen 
years, or during its lifetime prior to the Civil 
War, it placed chapters at fourteen other col- 
leges, going to nearly all the larger eastern 
institutions except Yale and Harvard, as far 
west as the University of Michigan, and as 
far south as South Carolina and MississijDpi. 
The Civil War naturally interfered with its 
progress, and a number of " Chi Psis" 
were enrolled in southern as well as north- 
ern armies. After the period of depression 
incident to the war it became much more 
conservative, creating only ten new chap- 
ters within twenty -five years after the ces- 
sation of hostilities, by which time only 
sixteen of its new chapters were active and 
nine inactive. Its badge consists of a gold 



monogram formed of Chi and Psi, the for- 
mer heavily jewelled and over the latter, 
on which, at the top, appears either a quar- 
tered circle or a passion cross, and at the 
bottom a skull and cross bones under three 
"daggers. The latter are significant in that 
they point to some of the haute grades of 
Freemasonry, from which storehouses, a few 
of the secret characteristics of this excep- 
tionally secret college fraternity were drawn. 
Neither its annual convention or fraternity 
periodicals are public, and the tie between 
its members is closer and more lasting than 
that found between members of many like 
societies. Its total membership is about 
3,500. Philip Spencer, one of the found- 
ers, when a midshipman on the United 
States brig of war " Somers," was executed 
for mutiny, but the unfortunate young man's 
memory was. cleared by United States Sena- 
tor Thomas H. Benton and others, among 
them James Fenimore Cooper and Gail 
Hamilton, who pointed out that the charge 
against young Spencer, who was the son of 
a cabinet officer, was untenable, and that 
the arrest and execution were unwarranted. 
Among the better known "Chi Psis" are 
Speaker Thomas B. Reed, ex-United States 
Senator Thomas M. Palmer, ex-Postmas- 
ter-General Don M. Dickinson, Stephen 
H. Tyng, Jr., Elbridge T. Gerry, William 
Astor and Chief Justice Fuller of the 
United States Supreme Court. (See Col- 
lege Fraternities.) 

Delta Beta Xi. — An extinct Yale, local, 
sophomore society. (See College Frater- 
nities.) 

Delta Delta Delta. — Women's society. 
(See College Fraternities.) 

Delta Gamma. — Women's society. (See 
College Fraternities.) 

Delta Kappa. — A former Yale, local, 
freshman society. (See College Fraterni- 
ties. ) 

Delta Kappa Epsilon. — Organized on 
June. 22, 1844, at Yale College, by William 
W. Atwater, Edward G. Bartlett. Frederick 
P. Bellinger, Jr., Henry Case, George F. 



352 



DELTA KAPPA EPSILON 



Chester, John B. Conyngham, Thomas I. 
Franklin, W. Walter Horton, William Boyd 
Jacobs, Edward V. Kinsley, Chester N. 
Bighter, Elisha Bacon Shapleigh, Thomas 
D. Sherwood, Alfred Everett Stetson and 
Orson W. Stow, who had just completed 
their sophomore year. They had contem- 
plated being elected members of Psi Upsi- 
lon in a body, but some of them failing to 
secure an election to that junior society, the 
fifteen stood together and formed a new 
junior society with the foregoing title, to 
compete with Alpha Delta Phi and Psi 
Upsilon, which, until then, had monopo- 
lized junior year Greek-letter society inter- 
ests at Yale. Delta Kappa Epsilon, or 
" D. K. E." as it is usually called, beat all 
records at extension, by placing chapters at 
thirty-two colleges and universities between 
the year it was founded and the outbreak 
of the war in 1861, going as far as Miami 
and the University of Michigan in the West 
and to colleges in Virginia, Kentucky, Ten- 
nessee, Mississippi and Louisiana at the 
South. The southern chapters were ren- 
dered dormant by the war, and since 1866 
the fraternity has been much more particu- 
lar in creating branches, has made more of 
an effort to revive inactive chapters than to 
place new ones. Its original plan did not 
contemplate a general fraternity, but early 
opportunities for new chapters presenting 
themselves, a plan for the propagation of 
" D. K. E." was organized and was car- 
ried out with a thoroughness which, owing 
in part to the war, reacted upon the gen- 
eral standing of the society\ From 1870 to 
date the society has built upon far better 
foundation and with more care and skill, 
and ranks as the largest general college 
fraternity, with more than 12,000 members, 
nearly 10 per cent, of the total membership 
of the world of Greek-letter societies. The 
impression has always prevailed that the 
parent chapter of "~D. K. E." exercises a 
dominant influence over the entire organi- 
zation, but this has been denied. Cer- 
tain it is that, at times, the tie between the 



Yale "Deke" and his f raters from other 
colleges is not as strong as that between 
members of different chapters of almost any 
other college fraternity. But this may be 
due to the peculiar society system at Yale 
rather than to a peculiarity in the govern- 
ment or personnel of Delta Kappa Epsilon. 
Its Harvard chapter ran against the anti- 
fraternity laws there in 1858 and practically 
ceased to exist as a chapter of Delta Kappa 
Epsilon until 1863. It had not initiated 
members for several years, but held meet- 
ings in Boston, where it became known as 
the "Dicky Club/-' The chapter was re- 
vived as a sophomore society in 1863, and 
exists to-day, occasionally challenging at- 
tention when some accident reveals to the 
public its ridiculous and at times repre- 
hensible method of initiating candidates. 
Dicky Club is no longer " D. K. E." Quite 
a number of chapters of "D. K. E." have 
houses of their own; the "D. K. E." 
club in New York stands as high as simi- 
lar institutions there, and there are asso- 
ciations of " D. K. E." alumni at a score 
of cities which hold annual reunions and 
cultivate the fraternal relations begun dur- 
ing college life. The fraternity is gov- 
erned by an advisory council which is in- 
corporated. The badge resembles that of 
Psi Upsilon, except that in the centre of the 
black field the golden letters Delta Kappa 
Epsilon appear upon a white scroll. Much 
is made of armorial bearings, each chapter 
having a distinct blazon. The fraternity 
emblem is a lion rampant, in black, on' a gold 
background. On its list of names of dis- 
tinguished members are those of United 
States Senators M. C. Butler and Calvin S. 
Brice ; Perry Belmont, W. D. Washburn, 
John D. Long, A. Miner Griswold, A. P. 
Burbank, Theodore Koosevelt, John Bach 
McMaster, George Ticknor Curtis, Julian 
Hawthorne, Robert Grant, Theodore Win- 
throp, Willia.m L. Alden, ex-Governor 
McCreary of Kentucky ; Wayne McVeagh, 
Charles S. Fairchild, General Francis A. 
Walker, Whitelaw Reid, Robert T. Lincoln, 



DELTA TAU DELTA 



353 



Stewart L. Woodford, Mark H. Dunnell, 
and Henry Cabot Lodge. 

Delta Phi. — A general Greek-letter 
college fraternity, founded in 1827, at 
Union College, almost immediately follow- 
ing the organization of Sigma Phi, by 
Benjamin Burroughs, William H. Fondey, 
Samuel L. Lamberson, Samuel C. Lawrison, 
David H. Little, Thomas C. McLaurey, 
John Mason, Joseph J. Masten, and Will- 
iam Wilson. It has relatively few chapters, 
but as most of them are in the New Eng- 
land and the Middle States, not far from 
one another, it tends to bind the members 
of the fraternity close together. Some of 
its chapters stand high, and, owing to its 
age, the society enjoys considerable prestige. 
Its government is by convention. The 
badge is a gold Maltese cross having a cir- 
cular disk in the centre, displaying the let- 
ters Delta and Phi. On the arms of the 
cross are engraved or enamelled the clasped 
hands, an antique lamp, a scroll and quill 
and a constellation of stars. It numbers 
about 2,540 members. In the list are the 
names of Hon. William H. Seward, Sena- 
tors C. K. Davis and Christopher Magee, 
ex-Governors Ludlow of New Jersey and 
Gaston of Massachusetts, Dr. Howard Cros- 
by and Edgar Fawcett of New York, Dr. E. 
Ogden Doremus, William H. Hurlburt of 
London, Charles Scribner and John W. 
and Joseph A. Harper, the publishers. 
(See College Fraternities.) 

Delta Psi. — Founded at Columbia Col- 
lege, New York, in 1847, by Charles Arms 
Budd and John Hone Anthon ; perhaps the 
most exclusive general Greek-letter college 
fraternity as to the social standing of mem- 
bers. It has comparatively few chapters, 
but all of them possess their own houses. 
Some Delta Psi temples are very costly. 
Two of its southern chapters survived the 
Civil War, There are several graduate 
clubs or associations of Delta Psis known 
as St. Anthony's clubs, notably at New 
York, Philadelphia, and Koch ester. The 
society is exceptionally secret and is said to 
■ 23 



embody in its* ritual features of some of the 
elaborate and audacious innovations upon 
ancient Freemasonry which appeared at the 
end of the last and early in the present 
century. (See College Fraternities.) Its 
membership is about 2,760. The badge is 
a golden St. Anthony's cross, or T the 
sides of which are curved inward. Upon 
the upright of the cross is a conventional 
shield displaying Delta Psi upon a field of 
blue enamel. There are four Hebrew let- 
ters upon the bar of the cross, and at the 
base a skull over a crossed key and sword. 
Some of the best known members are 
Bishops Doane of the Protestant Episcopal 
Church and Galloway of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church, South ; Hamilton Fish, Jr. ; 
General Stewart L. Woodford ; Nicholas 
Fish, ex-Minister to Belgium ; Rev. Justin 
D. Fulton, Brooklyn ; Thomas Nelson Page ; 
Stuyvesant Fish, former President of the 
Illinois Central Railroad, and H. Walter 
Webb and Dr. W. Seward Webb of New 
York. 

Delta Psi. — The second Greek-letter so- 
ciety by that name. It has no connection 
with the general college fraternity of that 
title ; a local society at the University of 
Vermont. (See College Fraternities.) 

Delta Tan Delta. — One of the better 
known of the group of southern general 
Greek-letter fraternities. It was organized 
January 1, 1860, at Bethany College, W. 
Va., by William R. Cunningham, with 
whom were associated Henry K. Bell, 
Alexander C. Earle, John L. N. Hunt, 
John C. Johnson, Jacob S. Lowe, and 
Eugene Tarr, as a rival to Phi Kappa Psi, 
then the only other like society at the col- 
lege named, and promptly began placing 
chapters at other colleges. As the exten- 
sion was North, East, and West, rather than 
South, it suffered relatively less from the 
Civil War than some other southern Greek- 
letter fraternities. It has shown good judg- 
ment in withdrawing charters from unde- 
sirable institutions, and has strong chapters 
South, West, and East, notably those at the 



354 



DELTA UPSILON 



Universities of Michigan, Minnesota, Colo- 
rado, Mississippi, Georgia, Tennessee, Vir- 
ginia, and Wisconsin, at Kensselaer, Tufts, 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and 
Cornell. In 1886 it absorbed two chapters 
of the Rainbow Fraternity, or W. "W". W., 
the first southern college secret society, 
founded at the University of Mississippi in 
1848, by seven students who had gone 
thither from La Grange College, Tennessee. 
The two remaining chapters of Eainbow, 
or W. W. W., united with Phi Delta 
Theta, and so the Rainbow, etc., disap- 
peared. It was very much like the Mys- 
tical Seven, Wesleyan, 1837, made much 
of the number seven, emphasized the seven 
primary colors, referred to its members as 
the Sons of Iris and employed an iridescent 
arch over three W's as its emblem. (See 
Order of Heptasophs, or S.\ M. W. \; 
also College Fraternities.) Delta Tau 
Delta is governed by an Executive Council, 
since the union with the Eainbow, called 
an Arch, -Council, composed of five alumni 
and four undergraduate members, elected 
by convention. The badge is a square slab 
of gold, with concave sides, displaying the 
letters Delta Tau Delta over a crescent 
and under a radiated eye. There is a five- 
pointed star in each corner. Total mem- 
bership is about 5,500. Among prominent 
alumni are Dr. Allan McLane of New York 
and Will. Carleton the poet. 

Delta Upsilon. — Non-secret, general fra- 
ternity. (See College Fraternities.) 

Eta Phi. — One of two rival Yale local 
sophomore societies. (See College Frater- 
nities.) 

Gamma Nu. — (Non-secret.) Formerly 
local literary society for freshmen at Yale. 
(See College Fraternities.) 

Gamma Phi Beta. — Women's society. 
(See College Fraternities.) 

He Boul& — A local sophomore society 
at Yale. (See College Fraternities.) 

I. K. A. — Local senior society (not 
Greek-letter) at Trinity College. (See 
College Fraternities.) 



Kappa Alpha. — Founded at Union Col- 
lege, in 1825, by Rev. John H. Hunter of 
Yonkers, N. Y., with whom were asso- 
ciated Professor Isaac W. Jackson of Union, 
Dr. Thomas Hunn and Judge Rufus W. 
Peckham of Albany, Judge Levi Hubbell 
of Milwaukee, Senator Preston King of 
New York, Professor Amos Dean of the 
Albany Law School, and Rev. Leonard 
Woods, D.D., ex-president of Bowdoin 
College. It is the oldest general Greek- 
letter college fraternity having a continu- 
ous existence as a secret society, and stands 
alone in having had as founders gentlemen 
who afterwards became distinguished in 
political or professional life. It began as a 
social club in a private school, in 1823, and 
two years later, when members were at 
college, blossomed out as a secret brother- 
hood in manifest imitation of Phi Beta 
Kappa, a secret society which had appeared 
at Union in 1817, eight years before. (See 
Phi Beta Kappa ; also College Fraternities.) 
The badge of Kappa Alpha, a watch-key 
with the handle and stem at diagonally 
opposite corners of a square of gold, instead 
of at opposite sides as in the case of 
the watch-key badge of Phi Beta Kappa, 
is enough to indicate the inspiration of 
Kappa Alpha, if nothing else were avail- 
able. The signs of the zodiac surround 
the letters Kappa and Alpha in the centre of 
the square, and in the right and left hand 
corners, respectively, are engraved or enam- 
elled two Hebrew letters, sufficiently signifi- 
cant to those familiar with "the summit 
and perfection " of something else to indi- 
cate the direction in which the earlier 
"Kaps" delved for material with which to 
dress their ritual. On the reverse are "the 
rising sun and other symbols/' quite in line 
with what has just been written. Kappa 
Alpha established a chapter at Williams 
College in 1833, the first outpost, where 
it encountered active antagonism from a 
social fraternity, later known as Delta Up- 
silon, established in 1834 to combat secret 
college societies (see College Fraternities), 



KAPPA SIGMA 



355 



a number of the members of which with- 
drew and joined Kappa Alpha. In 1827 
the success of Kappa Alpha at Union 
was such that two fraternities were organ- 
ized there in opposition to it, Sigma Phi 
and Delta Phi, the first of which followed 
it to Williams in 1834. Its conservatism 
in instituting new chapters has always been 
marked, and it has only half a dozen to- 
day, exclusive of those which were killed by 
the anti-fraternity wars at Princeton and 
at the University of Virginia, which dis- 
appeared at the outbreak of the Civil War. 
Its Williams Chapter was the first among 
like organizations there to own a house of 
its own. Its membership, estimated at 
1,140, has always been limited, but is of high 
rank socially. At its semi-centennial cele- 
bration at Union in 1875 the address was 
delivered by Governor Henry M. Hoyt of 
Pennsylvania. It is governed by an Execu- 
tive Council composed of alumni and dele- 
gates from active chapters. Among its 
better known alumni, other than those 
mentioned, are General Albert J. Myer ; 
S. G. W. Benjamin, ex-Minister to Persia ; 
Edward S. Bragg, ex-Minister to Mexico ; 
Augustus Schell, ex-Collector of the Port 
of New York, and Elipbalet N. Potter, 
President of Hobart and of Union Colleges. 
Kappa Alpha. — (Southern Order.) 
Founded in 1865 as a general Greek-letter 
college fraternity at Washington and Lee 
University, Virginia, by Professor S. Z. 
Am men, James W. Wood, Rev. W. N. 
Scott, and William A. Walsh. Until 1870 
it was governed by the parent chapter. 
Since then its affairs have been governed 
by conventions of delegates from chapters, 
and in the intervals administered by an 
Executive Council. It has confined its 
extension mainly to the South, and is pros- 
. perous, although numerous chapters, some 
of which are not at institutions of the first 
\ rank, will explain why its membership is 
not, as a whole, of the highest social or 
scholastic grade. Its badge is a gold shield 
on which are a cross having four arms of 



equal length and the letters Kappa and 
Alpha on a black field. Its total member- 
ship is about 2,950. (See College Frater- 
nities.) 

Kappa Alpha Tlieta. — Women's so- 
ciety. (See College Fraternities.) 

Kappa Kappa Gamma. — Women's so- 
ciety. (See College Fraternities.) 

Kappa Kappa Kappa. — Local frater- 
nity at Dartmouth College. (See College 
Fraternities). 

Kappa Signia. — A general Greek-letter 
college fraternity, organized at the Uni- 
versity of Virginia, in 1867, by Dr. George 
W. Hollingsworth and Dr. George M. Ar- 
nold, with whom were associated Edward L. 
Rogers, George L. Thomas, John C. Boyd, 
and Robert Dunlop. It is declared that the 
society is a direct descendant of Kirjaith 
Sepher, a European university secret so- 
ciety, founded at Bologna and Firenze, 
Italy, about 1400 a.d. by a Greek professor 
at those institutions, branches of which ap- 
peared at the French Universities of Mont- 
pellier, Orleans, aud Paris about 1410. The 
story runs that the Italian branches finally 
became extinct, except in a family named 
De Bardi, " who handed down its traditions " 
to Hollingsworth and Arnold in 1866 while 
they were abroad studying medicine, giv- 
ing them permission to establish the society 
in America, which, Baird adds, " they did, 
under the name of Kappa Sigma." It was 
carried to the University of Alabama the 
year the parent chapter was founded, and 
spread rapidly to southern and southwestern 
colleges with the exception that the third 
outpost was placed at Bellevue Medical Col- 
lege, New York, where it was empowered 
to initiate students at Columbia and the 
College of the City of New York. Nearly 
all other northern chapters are at smaller 
western colleges. The government of the 
fraternity is through a national Grand Con- 
clave, or convention, which meets biennially, 
between the sessions of which the affairs of 
the society are in the bauds of a committee 
of five officers. The badge is an inverted 






t^^O^ 









356 



KAPPA SIGMA EPSILON 



crescent of gold, attached to and below 
which, by four of its points, is a five-pointed 
star with the letters Kappa Sigma in its 
centre, encircled by jewels. At the top, on 
the crescent, a skull and bones are engraved ; 
at the left, the crossed keys, and at the 
right, crossed swords. Membership about 
2,800. (See College Fraternities.) 

Kappa Sigma Epsilon. — Former local 
freshman society at Yale. (See College 
Fraternities.) 

Kappa Sigma Phi.--Long extinct local 
sophomore society at Yale. (See College 
Fraternities. ) 

Lambda Iota. — Local society at the Uni- 
versity of Vermont. (See College Fra- 
ternities. ) 

Mystical Seven. — (Not Greek-letter. ) 
In some respects among the most ambitious 
efforts at creating a college secret society 
with a good ritual. Absorbed by Beta Theta 
Pi. (See Order of the Heptasophs, or Seven 
Wise Men; also, College Fraternities.) 

Nu Sigma Nu. — Professional, medical 
society. (See College Fraternities.) 

P. E. O. — (Not Greek. ) Women's society. 
(See College Fraternities. ) 

Phi Alpha Sigma. — Professional, medi- 
cal society. (See College Fraternities.) 

Phi Beta Kappa. — The parent of the 
American system of Greek-letter college 
fraternities, organized December 5, 1776, 
by John Heath, Thomas Smith, Richard 
Booker, Armistead Smith and John Jones, 
undergraduates at the College of William 
and Mary, Williamsburg, Va., then one of 
the most prosperous and aristocratic insti- 
tutions of learning in the colonies. It is 
likewise explained that the meeting to form 
this society was held in the Apollo room 
in Raleigh Tavern, made famous by the 
great speech of Patrick Henry. Much time 
and erudition have been expended in investi- 
gations to determine the origin of the Greek- 
letter fraternity and how the first one came 
to give itself a title consisting of Greek let- 
ters. Heckethorn disposes of the matter 
summarily by stating that the Bavarian Illu- 



minati, " according to some accounts," had 
spread to America, there to form a philo- 
sophico-political sect based upon the teach- 
ings of Philo, Cato, Lucian, Pythagoras, 
and Marius. But he evidently forgot that 
Weishaupt's Illuminati was born on the 
continent of Europe in the same year, 
probably only a few months before Phi 
Beta Kappa made its appearance in Vir- 
ginia, that communication between Virginia 
and the continent of Europe at that time 
was infrequent, and that there could have 
been little in common between the Bava- 
rian philosopher and the five boys who were 
studying the elements of a higher education 
at Williamsburg, Va. At all, or nearly all, 
of the American colleges at that time, there 
were public and private literary societies, 
as they were called, debating clubs, in which 
students learned how to think while stand- 
ing upon their feet and talking ; how to 
express their ideas, and, more than that, 
how to make others feel the force of what 
they said. Most of those organizations, 
only a few of which remain, were known 
by ponderous or other Latin names. At 
the founding of the new society in the 
Apollo room in Raleigh Tavern,' it was 
thought desirable to make a departure in- 
stead of imitating the Latin-named socie- 
ties of the day ; and, as one of those pres- 
ent " was the best Greek scholar in college/' 
the name of the society was formed of the 
initials of a Greek motto, Phi Beta Kappa. 
It is hardly probable the five young men 
responsible for this creation realized or 
thought they were "planning a union of 
the virtuous college youth of this country;" 
but they were. Moreover, they called them- 
selves a fraternity, declared the society 
was formed for congeniality and to pro- 
mote goodfellowship, with "friendship 
as its basis and benevolence and literature 
as its pillars." A month later, January 5, 
1777, Daniel Fitzhugh, John Stuart, The- 
odoric Fitzhugh, and John Stark joined 
the organization and entered into a cove- 
nant to preserve its secrets and advance its 



PHI BETA KAPPA 



357 



interests. In 1778 it was decided to estab- 
lish branches of the society in order to ex- 
tend its good work, in which we find the 
beginnings of that movement which has 
peopled the college world with about 700 
chapters of nearly one hundred Greek- 
letter fraternities. A charter for a branch 
to be known as the Beta chapter was granted 
Samuel Hardy in 1779, another to William 
Stuart for Gamma, and a third to William 
Cabel for Delta. In December that year 
a charter was granted Elisha Parmele, a 
graduate of Harvard, who had also been a 
student at Yale, and in 1780 charters were 
granted, respectively, to John Beckley for 
an Eta chapter at Eichmond, and George 
L. Turbervilie for a Theta at Westmore- 
land. In 1781 meetings of the parent 
chapter Avere suspended owing to hostilities 
between British troops and the colonists. 
Of the fate of the five local chapters noth- 
ing is known, and it is due to the granting 
of a charter to young Parmele of Harvard 
and Yale that Phi Beta Kappa did not die at 
the approach of Lord Cornwallis. Parmele 
organized a chapter at New Haven in 
November, 1780. It was originally in- 
tended to call the Yale chapter Zeta, but 
this was changed, and it became the Alpha 
of Connecticut. In less than a year, Sep- 
tember, 1781, the parent chapter being 
dead, what was intended to be the Epsilon, 
at Harvard, was organized as the Alpha of 
Massachusetts. In 17S7 Yale and Harvard 
carried the organization to Dartmouth at 
Hanover, where the Alpha of New Hamp- 
shire was formed. 

Xo more chapters were established for 
thirty years, when Yale, Harvard, and Dart- 
mouth, in 1817, instituted an Alpha of New 
York at Union College. Twelve years after, 
in 1829, chapters of Phi Beta Kappa were 
placed at Washington, now Trinity College, 
Hartford, Conn. ; Brown University, Provi- 
dence, E.I., and Bowdoin College at Bruns- 
wick, Me. In 1831 the Harvard Chapter, as 
described by Baird, "gave up its individual 
secrets and those of the organization, and 



thereafter the society assumed a purely for- 
mal existence which has continued." (See 
College Fraternities.) The influence of John 
Quincy Adams, Joseph Story, Edward Ev- 
erett, and others was sufficient, in those 
days of trial and tribulation for Freemasons 
and members of other secret societies, to 
cause the Harvard Phibetians to appear on 
the Cambridge campus and publicly an- 
nounce the features which had been the 
mystery and inspiration of Phi Beta Kappa. 
After that the meetings of the society were 
held at longer intervals, and generally con- 
fined to a public literary programme. But 
with the removal of the secrecy which at- 
tached to the society much of the interest 
felt in it disappeared and formal meetings 
at commencement time were about all that 
remained to show that the organization was 
not extinct. It elected members annually 
from among the best students in the junior 
class, and, in time, became, what it is to- 
day, an honorary organization, holding an 
annual meeting for the election of officers 
and new members, each of whom is per- 
mitted to wear the well-known oblong gold 
watch-key, for so many years identified with 
Phi Beta Kappa. The honorary society was 
placed at Wesleyan College and at the Uni- 
versity of Alabama in the twenty years fol- 
lowing, and between 1852 and 1869 chapters 
were placed at the University of Vermont, 
Western Reserve, Amherst, Williams, New 
York University and at Rutgers. There 
were rumors of southern chapters at that 
period, but little is known of them.- The 
writer quoted says that down to 1881 chap- 
ters of Phi Beta Kappa were in the habit 
of having an oration and poem at public 
exercises at commencement time, of hold- 
ing a " private " business meeting to choose 
officers and members for the ensuing year, 
'•the former, graduates, and the latter, the 
best scholars in the incoming class. " The 
centennial of the organization's arrival at 
Harvard was celebrated in 1881, and twen- 
ty-nine delegates representing twelve chap- 
ters met there and adjourned to meet in 



358 



PHI DELTA PHI 



New York in October, when sixteen chap- 
ters were represented, and it was resolved to 
recommend the formation of a National 
Council and adopt a constitution. At a 
third meeting, at Saratoga Springs, Sep- 
tember, 1882, a constitution was adopted 
and afterwards approved by sixteen chap- 
ters under the title United Chapters of 
the Phi Beta Kappa Society. This society 
is governed by a National Council of sena- 
tors and delegates, each chapter being en- 
titled to send three of the latter, each of 
whom must be a graduate of five years' 
standing. There are thirty senators in two 
classes, whose terms expire in alternate 
sessions, and who are elected by delegates, 
from among whom the president of the 
Council is chosen by the senators. The 
Council meets the first Wednesday in Sep- 
tember in each year, and when not in ses- 
sion the senate is the executive. 

Chapters of Phi Beta Kappa also exist 
at the College of the City of New York, 
Columbia, Hamilton, Hobart, Colgate, Cor- 
nell, Eochester, Dickinson, Lehjgh, Lafay- 
ette, De Pauw, the University of Kansas, 
and Northwestern University, total mem- 
bership being not far from 10,000. The 
badge of the Phi Beta Kappa is an oblong- 
watch-key of gold, on one side of which are 
engraved the letters Phi, Beta and Kappa, 
with a hand below pointing to seven stars 
above, while on the reverse is the name of 
the owner and S. P., Dec. 6, 1776. 

The apparent mystery in this badge, which 
tradition informs us was originally worn on 
a ribbon about the neck of the owner, is 
easily explained in view of the services ren- 
dered posterity by John Quincy Adams, 
Joseph Story, and Edward Everett. The 
letters Phi Beta Kappa refer to the motto 
of the society, Philosophia, Biou Kyber- 
netes, or Philosophy is the guide of life. 
The seven stars refer to the parent chapter 
and its six branch chapters, from which 
the college secret societies of to-day may 
be said to have descended. Forgetful - 
ness of the original chapters of Phi Beta 



Kappa is prevented by the hand which per- 
petually points through the motto to the 
seven stars. The crescent moon and seven 
stars are found on some of the oldest 
Masonic floor-cloths and charts. The sig- 
nificance of the six stars arranged about 
one as a centre may be perceived when they 
are connected by straight lines. The re- 
sulting figure is a hexagon consisting of 
six equilateral triangles with their apexes 
at a common point, the. centre of a circle 
circumscribing the hexagon, whence the 
Freemason again finds the " point within 
a circle " and the member of Phi Beta 
Kappa another meaning than merely a 
reference to the seven earlier chapters of 
that fraternity. The popularity of the 
crescent and stars among later college fra- 
ternities is indicated by a study of their 
badges. Thus, Alpha Delta Phi used a 
single star and crescent ; Beta Theta Pi, a 
crescent and three stars ; Delta Tan Delta, 
four stars and a crescent ; Kappa Sigma, a 
single star suspended from a reversed cres- 
cent ; Sigma Chi, seven stars on the base of. 
its St. George's cross, and Theta Delta Chi, 
two stars. The letters " S. P." on the 
reverse of the Phi Beta Kappa badge are 
translated "Societas Philosophise," or Phil- 
osophical Society. The date is that of its 
origin, or, as some mystical students will 
have it, the date of " Illuminism." The 
sign of a Phibetian, prior to 1831, was 
made by placing two fingers of the right 
hand over the left corner of the month 
and drawing them across the chiri. His 
grip was made by locking the hands with- 
out clasping the thumbs at the same time 
pressing the wrists; and his "word" was 
the motto for which the letters of Phi Beta 
Kappa stood. 

Phi Delta Phi. — Professional, law, 
society. (See College Fraternities.) 

Phi Delta Theta.— Organized in 1848 
at Miami University, where Alpha Delta 
Phi had established a chapter in 1835, and 
where Beta Theta Pi was founded in 1839, 
the second member of the Miami Triad, the 



PHI KAPPA PSI 



359 



most widely extended, and therefore the 
most distinctively national among the gen- 
eral Greek-letter college fraternities. It 
was founded by Kobert Morrison and John 
McMillan Wilson of the class of '49; 
Kobert Thompson Drake, John Wolfe Lind- 
ley, and Andrew Watt Eogers of ''50, and 
Arc! i van Walker Rogers of '51, all of whom 
graduated with distinction. Before the 
outbreak of the Civil War it had established 
sixteen chapters in the West, Xorthwest, 
and South, but at the close of the war only 
five remained. In the next nineteen years 
the work of extending the fraternity was 
carried on with a degree of enthusiasm 
never equalled, forty-six chapters being 
established between 1864 and 1883. While 
by far the majority were placed at what may 
be classed as minor institutions of learn- 
ing, principally at the West and South, there 
were noteworthy exceptions at Michigan 
University, Cornell, the University of Vir- 
ginia, University of Vermont, Vanderbilt, 
and the University of Minnesota. In the last 
fourteen years more than that number of 
chapters have been established, the invasion 
of the East being continued at Union, Col- 
lege of the City of New York, Columbia, 
Dartmouth, Williams, University of Syra- 
cuse. Lehigh, Amherst, and Brown. In 
two instances two chapters of Phi Delta 
Theta were established at a single college 
owing to an overflow of members, but con- 
solidation followed shortly after. Owing to 
frequent conflict with college anti-fraternity 
laws its list of inactive or dead chapters is a 
long one, yet it boasts an organization at 
about seventy colleges and universities in 
nearly thirty States. The society is gov- 
erned by a General Council, composed of a 
president, secretary, treasurer, and historian, 
and is divided into provinces, each of which 
has a president chosen by the General Coun- 
cil. It has a long list of alumni chapters, 
which have the privilege of sending dele- 
gates to conventions to choose members of 
the General Councils. The Phi Delta Theta 
badge, in the form of a shield, presents 



those letters on a white scroll upon a black 
field below " a radiated eye." The frater- 
nity also displays a coat-of-arms, an " open 
motto, " a triangular flag, and a society 
"yell." The list of names of distinguished 
"Phis " contains those of ex-President Har- 
rison, ex- Vice-President Stephenson, ex- 
Secretary of the Interior William F. Vilas, 
ex-Senator Blackburn of Kentucky, ex- 
Commissioner of Pensions J. C. Black, the 
late Eugene Field, and former war corre- 
spondent H. V. Boynton. Its total mem- 
bership is about 9,200. (See College Fra- 
ternities. ) 

Phi Kappa Psi. — Third of the Pennsyl- 
vania Triad of general Greek-letter college 
fraternities, founded at Jefferson College in 
1852, by Charles P. T. Moore and W. IT. 
Letterman. This society has a long list of 
chapters and credits many of the efforts 
resulting in its successful extension to Judge 
Moore, one of its founders, with whom was 
associated T. C. Chamberlain. During the 
period preceding the Civil War most of its 
chapters were jnaced in Pennsylvania and 
southern colleges. It gradually spread West, 
but in 18G9 appeared in the East at Cornell, 
in 1870 at Johns Hopkins, in 1881 at Hobart, 
in 188-4 at Syracuse, and later at other east- 
ern colleges. In the meantime it had gained 
a strong footing throughout the Central and 
Xorth western States and on the Pacific 
Coast, so that it numbers about forty active 
chapters and G,600 members, notwithstand- 
ing losses through cha]:>ters having become 
extinct during the war, college anti-fra- 
ternity laws and other causes. The gov- 
ernment is patterned after that of some of 
the regular secret societies, as are some of 
its secret features, consisting of a Grand 
Arch Council and an Executive Council of 
five alumni and four undergraduates. In 
order to facilitate the work of both, the fra- 
ternity is divided into four districts, each of 
which is presided over by an Arch on. The 
Grand Arch Council meets biennially, and 
elects the alumni members of the Execu- 
tive Council. Undergraduate members are 



360 



PHI KAPPA SIGMA 



elected by District Councils. Ex-Governor 
Joseph B. Foraker of Ohio and Congress- 
man Philip H. Dugro are among the best 
known alumni of the society. The badge 
is a conventional shield, with a jewelled 
border bearing the letters Phi Kappa Psi 
above an antique lamp and below ' ' a radi- 
ated eye," on either side of which is a five- 
pointed star. (See College Fraternities.) 

Plii Kappa Sigma. — The second of the 
Pennsylvania Triad among general Greek- 
letter college fraternities. (See College 
Fraternities.) It was founded August 16, 
1850, by S. B. W. Mitchell, J. B. Hodge, 
A. V. Du Pont, Charles H. Hutchinson, 
J. T. Stone, Duane Williams and A. A. 
Eipka, and prior to the Civil War estab- 
lished chapters at Pennsylvania colleges, at 
Princeton, Columbia and throughout the 
South, fourteen in all. Its strength at the 
South proved unfortunate, for the war closed 
the colleges there. This, with anti-frater- 
nity legislation, left it badly crippled, though 
it has succeeded in maintaining a gratifying- 
rank among the smaller fraternities. Its 
government is in the hands of a Grand 
Chapter composed of three delegates from 
each subordinate chapter. The present 
membership is about 2/230. Ex-Congress- 
man S. D. McEnery of Louisiana, Judge 
Chauncey F. Black of Pennsylvania, Whar- 
ton Barker of Philadelphia and General 
Horatio C. King of Xew York are mem- 
bers of Phi Kappa Sigma. The badge of 
the society is suggestively similar to that 
worn by Masonic Knights' Templars, con- 
sisting of a black enamelled Maltese cross, 
with skull and crossbones at the centre, a 
six-pointed star on the upper arm, and the 
letters forming the name of the society on 
the other three. 

Phi Nu Tlieta. — Local fraternity at Wes- 
leyan University. (See College Fraternities. ) 

Phi Sigma Kappa. — Professional, medi- 
cal, society. (See College Fraternities.) 

Phi Theta Psi. — A former Yale, local 
sophomore society. (See College Fraterni- 
ties. ) 



Phi Zeta Mu. — Local scientific society 
of Dartmouth College. (See College Fra- 
ternities. ) 

Pi Beta Phi. — Women's society. (See 
College Fraternities.) 

Pi Kappa Alpha. — Founded as a gen- 
eral Greek-letter fraternity in 1868, at the 
University of Virginia, by Frederick S. Tay- 
lor, L. W. T. Bradford, Robertson Howard, 
Julian E. Wood, and James B. Sclater, 
some of whom had been intimately associ- 
ated in the Confederate Army. Its growth 
was less hurried than that of some like fra- 
ternities, only eleven chapters being estab- 
lished in twenty-two years, all of them in the 
South Atlantic and Gulf region. Indiffer- 
ence, anti-fraternity laws and the decline 
of colleges themselves contributed to the 
death of a majority of the chapters. Mem- 
bership about 500. The government is by 
a council of graduates. The badge displays 
a diamond field upon a shield, with the let- 
ters Pi Kappa Alpha on the former. (See 
College Fraternities.) 

Psi Upsiloii. — One of the three great 
Greek-letter college fraternities (see College 
Fraternities) whose chapters were estab- 
lished at colleges and universities of the first 
rank throughout the country between 1835 
and 1870; which, from a social and literary 
point of view, stand highest, and which 
present on the rolls of their alumni the 
names of many of those distinguished in 
professional, political, and commercial life. 
It was founded in 1833 at Union College, 
where Kappa Alpha, Sigma Phi, and Delta 
Phi had preceded it, the first of the three 
named, in 1825, in imitation of Phi Beta 
Kappa, which was established there in 1817, 
and the other two in 1827, stimulated by 
the success of Kappa Alpha. The founders 
of Psi Upsilon were Samuel Goodale, Ster- 
ling G. Hadley, Edward Martindale, and 
George W. Tuttle of the class of '36; Eob- 
ert Barnard, Charles W. Harvey, and Mer- 
win H. Stewart of '37. It had evidently 
been in process of formation for some time, 
for the statement is made that its badge 



PHI GAMMA DELTA 



361 



"had been exhibited " at Union as early as 
1831. The badge consists of a lozenge- 
shaped slab of gold, enclosing a black enam- 
elled field surrounded, generally, by pearls, 
across the shorter diameter of which is the 
ancient emblem, a pair of clasped hands, 
Fides, with the letter Psi above and Upsilon 
below. It is usually worn, as are most col- 
lege society badges, on the waistcoat. Psi 
Upsilon was the first of like fraternities at 
Union to initiate students from all of the 
four classes, which is explained by its hav- 
ing been founded by sophomores and fresh- 
men. Its second chapter was placed at the 
University of New York in 1837, where 
Alpha Delta Phi and Sigma Phi had pre- 
ceded it, and its third at Yale in 1839, 
where Phi Beta Kappa and Alpha Delta 
Phi had gone before. In 1840 it went to 
Brown, in 1841 to Amherst and in 1842 to 
Columbia, at all of which Alpha Delta Phi 
had then been established, and at the first 
of which it also faced chapters of Phi Beta 
Kappa and Delta Phi. It established a 
chapter at Dartmouth in 1842 also, where 
it was first upon the ground after Phi Beta 
Kappa, which antedated it there by fifty- 
five years. In 1843 it appeared at Hamilton, 
there to meet its principal rival. Alpha Delta 
Phi; at Bowdoin, where it followed the lat- 
ter; and at Wesleyan, where none of the 
existing general college fraternities except 
Phi Beta Kappa then had a chapter. In 
1844 a number of Yale sophomores who had 
been elected to membership in Psi Upsilon 
declined to be initiated, inasmuch as others 
associated with them had not been chosen, 
and, with the latter, formed Delta Kappa 
Epsilon, which has since become the largest 
general Greek-letter college society, and is 
bracketed with Alpha Delta Phi and Psi 
Upsilon, which form the three great Greek- 
letter fraternities. Psi Upsilon did not in- 
crease its 'list of chapters so rapidly during 
the next fifteen years, establishing branches 
only at Harvard, 1850, Rochester, 1858, 
and Kenyon, 1860, prior to the outbreak of 
the Civil War. Its growth has been very 



conservative, and with not more than a score 
of chapters it numbers about 7,825 mem- 
bers. At Yale it shares the honors of junior 
society life with Alpha Delta Phi and Delta 
Kappa Epsilon, and its Yale members with 
those of the other societies named form the 
material from which each of the three Yale 
senior societies usually selects its fifteen 
members. It is governed by convention and 
an Executive Council, with headquarters at 
New York city. It has no alumni chapters, 
but associations of "Psi U" alumni exist 
at nearly twenty cities. A valuable and in- 
teresting account of the fraternity, its or- 
ganization, government, and the personnel 
of its membership, has been published by 
Albert P. Jacobs of Detroit.. Its list of 
alumni who are well known is a long one, 
and on it are the names of the late ex-Presi- 
dent Arthur; United States Senators 0. S. 
Ferry, W. P. Frye, J. R. Hawley, Anthony 
Higgins; Congressmen Lyman K. Bass, 
Galusha A. Grow, Waldo Hutchins, William 
Walter Phelps, Clarkson X. Potter, and 
William E. Robinson; George B. Loring, 
at one time Commissioner of Agriculture; 
William C. Whitney, ex-Secretary of the 
Navy; James B. Angell, ex-Minister to Tur- 
key; Eugene Schuyler, ex-Minister to 
Greece; Andrew D. White, ex-Minister to 
Germany; ex-Governors D. H. Chamberlain 
of South Carolina and A. H. Rice of Massa- 
chusetts; Chauncey M. Depew, Francis M. 
Bangs, George Bliss, and Daniel G. Rollins 
of New York; Charles Dudley Warner, Ed- 
mund C. Stedman, William Allen Butler, 
Albion W. Tourgee, William G. Sumner, 
Orange Judd, John Taylor Johnson,. Bray- 
ton Ives; and Bishops Beck with, Littlejohn, 
Whittaker, Niles, Paddock, Spaulding, 
Scarborough, Brown, Perry, Seymour, and 
Knickerbocker of the Protestant Episcopal 
Church. 

Phi Gamma Delta. — One of the Penn- 
sylvania Triad of general Greek-letter fra- 
ternities. It was founded at Jefferson Col- 
lege, Canonsburg, Pa., (afterward Wash- 
ington and Jefferson), in May, 1848, by 



362 



Q. T. V. 



John T. McCarty, James Elliott, Daniel 
Webster Crofts, Samuel B. Wilson, Ellis B. 
Gregg of the class of '48, and Naamen 
Fletcher of '49. It was started as a rival of 
Beta Theta Pi, and, following the interests 
of many identified with it, extended the 
fraternity to the South and West, rather 
than the East. It went to the College of 
the City of New York in 1865, and to Co- 
lumbia in 1866, the Sheffield Scientific 
School in 1875, and to Cornell in 1888, 
numbering more than forty active chap- 
ters, nearly one-half as many inactive, with 
a list of nearly 5,700 members. It has sev- 
eral graduate associations, and perhaps one- 
half of * its chapters possess houses of their 
own. It is -governed by a Grand Chapter 
composed of graduates from the New York 
city chapters and New York resident mem- 
bers of other chapters. The badge is a 
diamond-shaped slab of gold, with the cus- 
tomary border of pearls, and the Creek 
letters forming the name of the society on 
a field of black. Above them is a five- 
pointed star, and below, the letters Alpha, 
Omega, Mu, and Eta. Among its gradu- 
ates the best known names are those of 
Zebulon B. Vance; William C. Goodale, 
ex-Minister to Belgium ; and Daniel D. 
Lloyd and Maurice Thompson, authors. 
(See College Fraternities.) 

Q. T. V.— (Not Greek.) Professional, 
agricultural, society. (See College Fra- 
ternities.) 

Scroll and Key. — Local senior frater- 
nity, Yale College. (See College Fraterni- 
ties.) 

Sigma Alpha Epsilon. — Founded at the 
University of Alabama, March 9, 1856, as 
a general Greek-letter college fraternity by 
Noble L. De Votie, with whom were associ- 
ated John W. Kerr, Wade Foster, John B. 
Budulph, Nathan E. Cockrell, Samuel M. 
Dennis, and Abner E. Patton. The Civil 
War killed fourteen out of the fifteen chap- 
ters which were established within five years, 
the surviving branch being at Columbian 
University, District of Columbia. In 1866 



several chapters were revived and many 
new ones placed throughout the South and 
Southwest, in some instances at seminaries, 
institutes, and what were little more than 
high schools. Many such died, and others 
were killed by college an ti -fraternity laws, 
so that by 1880 another effort was needed 
to build up the society. The exertion 
made is best described by the statement 
that thirty new chapters were established 
within ten years, half a dozen of them cross- 
ing the Mason and Dixon line to locate at 
Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and Iowa 
colleges. The fraternity is divided into 
provinces for convenience of administration 
and governed by a Supreme Council of six, 
elected at conventions of delegates. The 
badge is a diamond-shaped slab, with the 
usual border of jewels enclosing a black field 
in which the letters Sigma, Alpha, Epsilon 
are displayed over a representation of an up- 
right human figure beside a recumbent lion. 
Below this are the letters Phi and Alpha. 
Total membership about 3,400. (See Col- 
lege Fraternities.) 

Sigma Chi. — Founded at Miami Univer- 
sity in 1855, the third general Greek-letter 
fraternity to which that institution gave 
birth, by Thomas C. Bell, James P. Cald- 
well, Daniel W. Cooper, Benjamin P. Eun- 
kle, Frank H. Scobey, Isaac M. Jordan, 
and William L. Lockwood, the result of a 
schism in Delta Kappa Epsilon, all but the 
last named founder having been members 
of the Miami Chapter of " D. K. E." The 
pareut chapter did not live long, but the 
work of extending the fraternity was begun 
early, and notwithstanding its growth was 
checked by the Civil War, the society num- 
bers a long list of chapters scattered 
throughout the West, Northwest, South, at 
various Pennsylvania colleges, on the Pacific 
Coast, and at the East in such institutions 
as the Massachusetts Institute of Technol- 
ogy, Stevens Institute, and Cornell Univer- 
sity. During the Civil War there was a 
chapter of Sigma Chi in one of the brigades 
of the Confederate Army, something unique 



THETA DELTA CHI 



363 



in the history of like societies. It was not 
chartered, however, initiated only a few 
members, and became dormant at the close 
of the war. The Purdue chapter was re- 
sponsible for the fraternity war there. (See 
College Fraternities.) The fraternity has 
been governed since 1882 by an Executive 
Council of alumni members and may be 
ranked as exceptionally prosperous, with 
about 5,400 members. Some of the better 
known alumni are Harry S. New of Indian- 
apolis, Edgar L. Wakeman, William G-. 
Stahlnecker and J. J. Piatt. 

Sigma Chi. — Honorary local society at 
Cornell. (See College Fraternities.) 

Sigma Delta CM. — Local at Sheffield 
Scientific School, Yale. (See College Fra- 
ternities.) 

Sigma Kappa. — Women's society. (See 
College Fraternities.) 

Sigma Nn. — One of the more prosperous 
southern general Greek-letter college fra- 
ternities, founded January 1, 1869, at the 
Virginia Military Institute, by Frank Hop- 
kins, with whom Avere associated J. W. 
Hopson, Greenfield Quarles, J. M. Riley, 
and R. E. Semple, in opposition to Alpha 
Tau Omega, which had become prosperous 
and prominent in the college world at Lex- 
ington, Ya. The establishment of new 
chapters was managed rather loosely at 
first, and by 1879 only the parent chapter 
remained. With the placing of a chapter 
at the North Georgia Agricultural College 
there were more energy and judgment dis- 
played, and during the next seventeen years 
the society appeared at a number of col- 
leges. Its total membership is now about 
1,700. The government is by a High, or 
Executive Council, created by annual con- 
ventions called Grand Chapters. The badge 
is a fifteen-pointed, five-armed cross in a 
circular field, in the centre of which is a 
coiled serpent. On each of the arms or panels 
is a pair of crossed swords, below which 
are distributed the letters Sigma, Nn, Ep- 
silon, Tau, Tau. (See College Fraternities.) 

Sigma Phi. — Next in line to Kappa 



Alpha as a general Greek-letter fraternity, 
having a continuous existence as a secret 
society, after which it patterned. It was 
founded at Union College in March, 1827, by 
T. F. Bowie, George N. Porter, Charles N. 
Rowley, S. W. Beall, R. H. Champan, and 
Charles T. Cromwell, members of the senior 
class. In 1831 it established a chapter at 
Hamilton College, Clinton, N. Y., the first 
after Phi Beta Kappa to begin a policy of 
extension, yet it has ever been conservative, 
even exclusive, and ranks to-day preemi- 
nent for the social standing of its members. 
Each chajoter owns its own house, that at 
Williams being one of the costliest in the 
country. It is governed by convention, and 
is incorporated under the laws of the State 
of New York. While the loyalty of alumni 
members of all Greek-letter societies to their 
fraternities is marked, in the case of gradu- 
ate members of Sigma Phi it is conspicuous. 
Its total membership is about 2,265, and in 
the list of names are found those of ex-Sen- 
ator J. J. Ingalls; Charles J. Folger, late 
Secretary of the Treasury; J. J. Knox, late 
Comptroller of the Currency; A. D. White, 
ex-Minister to Germany; John Bigelow, ex- 
Minister to England; H. C. Christiancy, 
ex-Minister to Peru; ex-Governors Hoffman 
of New York and Hartranft of Pennsyl- 
vania; Colonel Emmons Clark, A. Oakey 
Hall, Elihu Root, Joel B. Erhardt and 
John E. Parsons of New York; and Pro- 
fessor Whitney of Yale. Its badge consists 
of a gold monogram formed of the letters 
Sigma and Phi, the former usually richly 
jewelled. (See College Fraternities.) 

Skull and Bones. — Local senior society, 
Yale College. (See College Fraternities.) 

Theta Delta Chi.— The sixth general 
Greek-letter college fraternity founded at 
Union College, one of the larger, stronger, 
and more progressive of the group of smaller 
fraternities. It was organized in 1847, at a 
period when Union was very prosperous, by 
Theodore B. Brown, William G. Aikin, 
William Hyslop, Samuel F. Wile, Abel 
Beach and Andrew H. Green. It estab- 



364 



THETA XI 



lislied sixteen charges, as its chapters are 
called, within fourteen years preceding the 
Civil War, but not many more than that 
during the past thirty-four years, about one- 
half of which are inactive. This college 
fraternity is governed by a Grand Lodge in- 
stead of an executive council and conven- 
tion, the former corresponding to a conven- 
tion made up of delegates from the charges. 
The society badge is a sliield of gold dis- 
playing a border of pearls or other jewels, 
surrounding a field of black enamel, on 
which are the letters Theta Delta Chi, above 
them two five-pointed stars and below two 
crossed arrows. In 1869 it published a 
fraternity journal and is thought to have 
been the first to fly a fraternity flag. It has 
a membership of about 3,500, and among 
the names of members who have become well 
known are John Hay, Fitz James O'Brien 
and John Brougham, Daniel N. Lockwood, 
Seward A. Simons of Buffalo, Charles E. 
Miller, editor of " The Times," New York; 
and Bishops Wingfield, Randolph, and Gil- 
bert of the Protestant Episcopal Church. 

Theta Xi. — Professional, engineering, 
society. (See College Fraternities.) 

W. W. W., or The Rainhow.— (Not 
Greek.) First southern college society, be- 
lieved to have been founded by a former 
member of the college fraternity called 
Mystical Seven. (See the latter; also Col- 
lege Fraternities; also Order of Heptasophs, 
or Seven Wise Men.) 

Wolf's Head. — Local senior society, 
Yale College. (See College Fraternities.) 

Zeta Psi. — In the brief historical sketches 
of a number of other general Greek-letter 
college fraternities, explanation has been 
offered of how some of their characteristics 
have been drawn from Masonic sources, in 
almost all instances unknown to nearly if 
not all of the living members. Zeta Psi, one 
of the best among the smaller general college 
societies, differs only in that it was virtually 
organized by members of the Masonic fra- 
ternity. It was founded in 1846, at the 
University of New York, by John B. Yates 



Sommers, William Henry Dayton, and John 
M. Skillman of the class of 7 49, with whom 
was associated Rev. William Henry Carter, 
D.D., of Florida. It impresses upon its 
members, rather more than some like organi- 
zations, the importance of profound secrecy 
regarding the society and its affairs. It 
will probably surprise members to learn that 
its secret work, so-called, embodies several 
features borrowed from Freemasonry. The 
badge, however, has no* resemblance to the 
better known Masonic emblems, consisting 
of a gold monogram formed of a jewelled 
Zeta, with a circle in its upper and an A in 
its lower angle, placed upon a Psi, upon the 
left arm of which is a five-pointed star, and 
upon the latter a Roman fasces. When the 
parent chapter was two years old it began 
the work of extension, and sixteen chapters 
were established in thirteen years prior to the 
outbreak of the Civil War, most of them in 
the New England and Middle States, the 
outposts being at Michigan and North Caro- 
lina Universities. The latter was one of the 
few such chapters which survived the war. 
In addition to the parent, chapters at Rut- 
gers, Harvard, University of Pennsylvania, 
Union, Cornell, the University of California, 
Magill College, Montreal, the University of 
Toronto and Yale are exceptionally pros- 
perous. The fraternity as a whole is a 
prominent factor in the college secret so- 
ciety world, and has shown more of a spirit 
of progress within the last fifteen years than 
some which are older. The present mem- 
bership is about 4,300. Among the names 
of its prominent alumni are those of Nelson 
Dingley, Jr. ; William P. Pepper, Provost 
of the University of Pennsylvania; Ben. 
T. Cable, ex-member of Congress from 
Illinois; Joseph Nimmo, Jr., ex-Chief of 
the Bureau of Statistics, Treasury Depart- 
ment; A. D. Hazen, of the United States 
Post-Office Department; Dr. A. L. Loomis, 
and Judges Larremore and Van Hoesen of 
New York; Robert Garrett and ex-United 
States Senator Charles J. Noyes of Massa- 
chusetts. (See College Fraternities.) 



GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC 



365 



IX 



MILITARY AJSD ANCESTRAL ORDERS AND SOCIETIES 



Advance Guard of America, or the 
Grand Army of Progress. — An organiza- 
tion of soldiers and sailors of the Civil 
War, formed in Missouri in 1865. Its 
membership was ultimately absorbed by the 
Grand Army of the Eepublic, .to which 
order it is believed to have suggested its 
name. (See Grand Army of the Republic.) 

Ancient Order of Gophers. — See Sons 
of Veterans, United States of America. 

Grand Army of the Republic. — An 
organization of Union soldiers and sailors 
of the War of the Rebellion, 1861-1865, 
founded : 

1. To preserve and strengthen those kind and 
fraternal feelings which bind together the soldiers, 
sailors and marines who united to suppress the late 
Rebellion, and to perpetuate the memory and 
history of the dead ; 2. To assist such former com- 
rades in arms as need help and protection, and to 
extend needful aid to the widows and orphans of 
those who have fallen ; and 3. To maintain true 
allegiance to the United States of America, based 
upon a paramount respect for, and fidelity to, its 
Constitution and Laws; to discountenance whatever 
tends to weaken loyalty, incites to insurrection, 
treason or rebellion, or in any manner impairs the 
efficiency and permanency of our free institutions; 
land to encourage the spread of universal liberty, 
equal rights and justice to all men. 

The first of such societies, the Third 
Army Corps Union, was organized during 
the Rebellion, March 16, 1862, and con- 
tinues, to this day, to hold an annual 
banquet and business meeting on the 
evening of May 5. The second is the 
Army of the Tennessee. It was organ- 
ized in the Senate Chamber of the State 
Capitol at Raleigh, N". C, April 14, 1865. 
Membership is restricted to officers who 
served with the " old Army of the Tennes- 
see." On the list of presidents of the 
society are the names of Major-General 



John A. Rawlins, General W. T. Sherman, 
and General Grenyille M. Dodge. Its 
membership is 524. The Military Order of 
the Loyal Legion was founded at Philadel- 
phia, April 15, 1865, and the Grand Army 
of the Republic, nearly a year later, at 
Decatur, 111., where its first post was estab- 
lished on April 6, 1866. Two years later, 
on February 16, 1868, the Society of the 
Army of the Cumberland was organized for 
the benefit of officers and enlisted men who 
had served in that army. Its list of presi- 
dents includes the names of Major-General 
George H. Thomas, General W. S. Rose- 
crans, and General Philip H. Sheridan, and 
its total membership is about 700. It was 
in 1868, also, on July 5, at New York 
city, that the Society of the Army of the 
Potomac was formed. Officers and soldiers 
who served in that army, and in the Tenth 
and Eighteenth Army Corps of the Army 
of the James, are eligible to membership. 
Lieutenant-General P. H. Sheridan was its 
first president, and among his successors are 
the names of many of the most conspicuous 
Union officers in the Civil War. The society 
holds an annual meeting, at which those 
among its 1,800 members present partake 
of an elaborate dinner. The foregoing, with 
the Union Veterans' Legion, founded 1884, 
and the Sons of Veterans, 1878 and 1881, 
comprise the older and more comprehensive 
societies having their origin in the war of 
1861-1865. Membership in those designated 
by names of particular armies naturally 
carries with it associations and memories 
of only a part of the war ; but this charac- 
terization does not apply to the Military 
Order of the Loyal Legion, United States 
of America, an hereditary order to which all 
honorably discharged officers of the United 



366 



GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC 



States Army and Navy in the War of the Re- 
bellion and their eldest male successors are 
eligible ; or to the Grand Army of the Re- 
public, to which Union soldiers and sailors 
of the Civil War are eligible, and which 
hundreds of thousands of them have joined. 

To Benjamin Franklin Stephenson is 
given the honor of being the founder of the 
Grand Army of the Republic. He was 
born in Wayne County, Illinois, October 30, 
1822. He studied medicine with his brother 
at Mount Pleasant, la., and graduated from 
Rush Medical College, Chicago, in 1850. 
He married Barbara B. Moore, of Spring- 
field, 111., in 1.855, and began practising 
his profession at Petersburg in that State. 
He was elected surgeon of the Fourteenth 
Illinois Infantry May 25, 1861, but was 
not commissioned until April 7, 1862, at 
Pittsburg Landing. Dr. Stephenson was 
mustered out June 24, 1864; went into the 
drug business at Springfield, and a year 
later formed a partnership with Dr. G. T. 
Allen and Dr. James Hamilton. He is 
described in Beath's " History of the Grand 
Army of the Republic " as a poor manager in 
financial affairs and lacking in some of the 
qualities which should have secured him 
a lucrative practice. He is said to have 
formed strong friendships, to have been 
of an extremely sanguine temperament and 
charitable to a fault. 

It was while Stephenson's regiment 
formed part of Sherman's expedition to 
Meridian, in February, 1864, that Rev. 
William J. Rutledge, chaplain, and the 
"tent-mate and bosom companion" of 
Surgeon Stephenson, suggested, as related 
in Beath's History, "that the soldiers so 
closely allied in the fellowship of suffering 
would, when mustered out of the service, 
naturally desire some form of association 
that would preserve the friendship and the 
memories of their common trials and dan- 
gers." This was frequently discussed, and 
formed a subject of correspondence between 
them at the close of their army service. 
As early as the latter part of 1865 Dr. 



Stephenson discussed a proposed ritual with 
various persons in Springfield, and in Feb- 
ruary, 1866, with others, obligated some 
of them to secrecy in order to secure their 
cooperation. In March, 1866, a confer- 
ence was held at Springfield between Dr. 
Stephenson, Colonel John M. Snyder, Dr. 
James Hamilton, Major Robert M. Woods, 
Major Robert Allen, Chaplain William J. 
Rutledge, Colonel Martin Flood, Colonel 
Daniel Grass, Colonel Edward Prince, Cap- 
tain John S. Phelps, Captain John A. 
Lightfoot, Captain (since Colonel) B. F. 
Smith, Brevet Major A. A. North, Captain 
Henry E. Howe, and Lieutenant (since 
Colonel) B. F. Hawkes, " which finally 
resulted in the Grand Army of the Repub- 
lic," as explained in the history of the or- 
ganization already referred to, from which 
many of these data have been obtained. 
Captain Phelps is mentioned as having been 
particularly active at the conference. It 
was he who subsequently went to St. Louis 
and obtained a copy of the ritual of the 
Soldiers' and Sailors' League, a portion of 
which was used for the Grand Army of the 
Republic, a name, by the way, said to have 
been suggested by "The Advance Guard of 
America, or the Grand Army of Progress," 
formed in Missouri in 1865, which, like the 
Soldiers' and Sailors' League, .was merely 
a forerunner of the Grand Army of the 
Republic, and was ultimately absorbed by it. 
Mary H. Stephenson, daughter of Dr. 
B. F. Stephenson, in reply to an in- 
quiry from the writer of this sketch, 
wrote from Petersburg, 111., December 
24, 1894, that her father " was an Odd 
Fellow prior to the founding of the Grand 
Army of the Republic," which she "un- 
derstood was the only secret society to 
which he belonged, except the Grand Army 
of the Republic." While the founder of the 
Grand Army was, as stated, a member of 
no other secret society except the Odd Fel- 
lows, the earlier Grand Army ritual, pro- 
duced by the joint labors and suggestions 
of more than a dozen gentlemen, presents 



GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC 



367 



evidence of the Masonic affiliations of some 
of them. When that ritual was ready, it was 
taken to Decatur, and, at the suggestion of 
Governor Oglesby, given to the Decatur 
" Tribune" to publish in book form for 
the use of the Grand Army, after the pro- 
prietors and compositors of the paper had 
been obligated to secrecy. In this way 
it was natural that the first post was or- 
ganized at Decatur. A constitution was 
adopted early in May, 1866, after Post 2, 
at Springfield, had been organized. The 
latter, while recorded as having been formed 
"in April," presents no formal records 
until July 10, 1866. Dr. Stephenson gave 
up almost his entire time to the newly 
organized society, often sacrificing profes- 
sional engagements and opportunities. The 
preferment of another for the highest 
honors when the Department of Illinois 
was organized at Springfield, July 12, 1866, 
and again at Indianapolis, November 20, 
1866, when the National Encampment was 
formed, were bitter disappointments ; but 
more grievous than all was the apparent 
extinction of the Grand Army, a year or 
two later, in his own and neighboring 
States while still enjoying a large mem- 
bership further East, pointing seemingly 
to the failure of efforts of himself and 
friends. Greatly discouraged, and without 
financial resources, he removed with his 
family from Springfield to his old home in 
Petersburg. He died at Rock Creek, 111., 
August 30, 1871, where he was buried. 
Eleven years later his remains were removed 
to Petersburg and buried in Soldiers' Plot 
at Rose Hill Cemetery with Grand Army 
services. 

The work of organizing new posts as 
at first conducted, by a Department staff, 
was slow, but by July 12, 1866, the 
date fixed to form the Department of 
Illinois, thirty-nine posts were represented 
in convention at Springfield. The first 
blow to Stephenson's pride came in the 
election of Major-General John M. Palmer 
as Department Commander, instead of 



himself. The committee decided on 
Palmer, the popular soldier, as calculated 
to better advance the interests of the or- 
ganization, and arranged that Stephenson's 
intimate friend, Chaplain Rutledge, should 
second Palmer's nomination, and in so do- 
ing give full credit to Major Stephenson 



as the 



•o-anizer of the Order. 



The 



work of extending the Army was evidently 
rapid, for by October, 1866, Departments 
had been formed in Illinois, Wisconsin, 
Indiana, Iowa, and Minnesota, and posts in 
Ohio, Missouri, Kentucky, Arkansas, Dis- 
trict of Columbia, Massachusetts, New 
York, and Pennsylvania. At the Phila- 
delphia Encampment, January 15, 1868, 
the Union League of America, "a secret 
political association " (see Ku Klux Klan), 
which had become prominent in fighting 
"fire with fire "'in its antagonism of the 
Ku Klux Klan, invited a conference look- 
ing to cooperation, which was not accepted. 
It was during the administration of Com- 
mander-in-Chief John A. Logan that Gen- 
eral Orders, No. 11, were issued from 
headquarters, at Washington, D.C., May 5, 
1S68, for the first time designating May 
30 as Memorial Day for the purpose of 
decorating the graves of comrades who died 
in defence of their country during the late 
Rebellion. In them was expressed the hope 
that the observance would be continued 
from year to year, " while a survivor of the 
war remains to honor the memory of his 
departed Comrades. '' Memorial Day is now 
a legal holiday in thirty-five States and 
territories, including the District of Co- 
lumbia. This action by General Logan did 
much to cement the brotherhood of the 
Order and to remove prejudice against it. 
It suffered in its earlier years from its 
political tendencies. 

The great mass of the soldier vote was 
Republican in 1866, but there were many 
Democrats among them and a considerable 
number who championed the cause of Presi- 
dent Johnson against his party. One result 
was the efforts of politicians to catch the 



368 



GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC 



soldier vote. President Johnson was en- 
dorsed at a convention of Democratic sol- 
diers held at Cleveland, September 17, 
1866, and on September 25, a week later, a 
soldiers' and sailors' Eepublican convention 
was held at Pittsburg. It is related that 
the Adjutant- General of the Department of 
Indiana " was exceedingly active during 
that convention in interviewing leading 
representatives relative to the Grand Army 
of the Eepublic and in urging the organi- 
zation of Posts, and for that purpose he 
' obligated'' quite a number from the East, 
instructed them in the ' work,* and gave 
them copies of the rules and ritual." At 
this convention an executive committee was 
appointed to act with representatives from 
the Grand Army of the Eepublic, United 
States Service Club, Maryland Boys in 
Blue, Michigan Boys in Blue, and the Sol- 
diers' and Sailors' Union, which resulted in a 
national organization of the Boys in Blue 
for the presidential campaign of 1868, the 
immediate practical value of which was to 
advance the political interest of the veteran 
as opposed to that of the civilian. A reason 
for the reference to this phase of political 
life of thirty years ago is found in the unex- 
pected effects of the formation of Boys in 
Blue clubs on the "fortunes of the Grand 
Army. There had been no posts of the lat- 
ter established east of Ohio prior to October, 
1866, but the propagandism developed, at 
the Pittsburg convention, the fact that 
Boys in Blue clubs were made up of men 
eligible to join the Grand Army, and the 
desirability of some general society of sol- 
diers and sailors naturally resulted in Grand 
Army posts being formed, ready made, as it 
were, from clubs of Boys in Blue. It was 
only natural, then, when one recalls the 
troubled state of politics during the period 
of attempted reconstruction, at the South, 
that the public should fail to distinguish 
between the political club of Boys in Blue 
and Grand Army posts made up of and 
officered by the same men, for which, among 
other reasons, the Grand Army was identi- 



fied more with the political life of the period 
than it deserved. Distinctly partisan action 
by some posts increased the public distrust 
of secret society political methods, and many 
posts died or gave up their charters, while 
in some localities it was impossible to estab- 
lish new ones. During that period the 
Grand Army suffered in numbers and pres- 
tige, few appearing to recognize the cause 
of the trouble in the exacting and unsettled 
political conditions. • In January, 1868, the 
National Encampment declared that while 
it was the purpose of the Grand Army "to 
secure the rights of these defenders of their 
country by all moral, social, and political 
means in our control, . . . yet this as- 
sociation does not design to make nomi- 
nations for office or to use its influence as a 
secret organization for partisan purposes. '" 
The following was added to the rules and 
regulations in 1869: "No officer or Com- 
rade of the Grand Army of the Eepublic 
shall in any manner use this organization 
for partisan purposes, and no discussion of 
partisan questions shall be permitted at any 
of its meetings, nor shall any nominations 
for political office be made. v As pointed 
out by Past Commander-in-Chief Eobert 
B. Beath, the Grand Army, under the influ- 
ence of these wise regulations, grew in num- 
bers and in public esteem until it ranks 
second to no similar society in its influence 
for public good. At the Cincinnati National 
Encampment, in 1869, the degrees of Eecruit, 
Soldier, and Veteran were proposed, which 
provided for a reorganization of the Army. 
They were designed to draw new members 
and hold old ones, but proved so unpopular 
that after two years' trial they were abol- 
ished. Membership decreased from 240,000 
in 1869 to less than 25,000 in 1871, though 
not solely because of the innovation. At the 
National Encampment held at Washington, 
D. C, May, 1879, the membership badge 
was established and a committee was named 
to prepare installation and burial services. 
A committee was also appointed to consider 
the advisability of an auxiliary organization 



MILITARY AND ANCESTRAL ORDERS 



369 



of the wives and daughters of comrades and 
the widows and orphans of deceased soldiers. 
Kadical changes in the ritual went into 
effect in 1871, which, though causing tem- 
porary loss in membership, placed the Army 
on a better working basis. At the National 
Encampment held at Dayton, 0., in 1880, 
committees were appointed to report on the 
auxiliary organizations, the Women's Na- 
tional Eelief Corps, G-. A. E., and the Sons 
of Veterans. These societies had sprung 
up without action on the part of the Grand 
Army of the Eepublic, and finally became 
recognized auxiliaries of wide influence. 
More extended accounts are given of them 
under the proper headings. In addition to 
the establishment and perpetuation of Me- 
morial Day services, the Grand Army has 
actively aided the War Department in col- 
lecting data calculated to be of use to the 
historian of the future in writing the history 
of the War of the Eebellion; has been in- 
strumental in securing a government cen- 
sus of soldiers and sailors; in maintaining 
veterans' rights both in and out of Congress; 
in erecting lasting monuments to members 
who were conspicuous leaders in the war ; 
in encouraging the construction of homes 
for the refuge of indigent veterans of the 
Civil War, and in directing attention to 
alleged inaccuracies in some school histories 
of the late Eebellion. Beginning with a 
few veterans in 1866, the membership of 
the Grand Army ran up to about a quarter 
of a million within three years, but declined 
to less than 25,000 by 1871, during the 
latter portion of which year it rose to 30.- 
124. The next seven years saw a struggle 
to hold members, totals ranging from 28,- 
693 in 1872 down to 26,899 in 1876, and up 
to 31,016 in 1878. This was a period of 
extreme depression in business, following 
the panic of 1873, and the Grand Army 
membership showed some of the effects of 
it. The business revival in 1879 brought 
an increase of 13,736 members, and from 
that period onward the growth of the Order 
lias been such that the 357,639 members of 
24 



1896, although only 1,631 more than were 
reported in 1887, nine years before, consti- 
tute about one-half of the surviving Union 
soldiers and sailors of the War of the Ee- 
bellion. The list of Commanders-in-Chief 
includes B. F. Stephenson, Illinois, 1866, 
provisional ; Stephen A. Hurlbut, Illinois, 
1866 ; John A. Logan, Illinois, 1868-1870; 
A. E. Burnside, Ehode Island, 1871-1872; 
Charles Devens, Jr., Massachusetts, 1873- 
1874; John F. Hartranft, 1875-1876; J. C. 
Eobinson, New York, 1877-1878 ; William 
Earnshaw, Ohio, 1879 ; Louis Wagner, 
Pennsylvania, 1880 ; George S. Merrill, 
Massachusetts, 1881 ; Paul Van Der Voort, 
Nebraska, 1882 ; Eobert B. Beath, Penn- 
sylvania, 1883; John S. Kuntz, Ohio, 1884; 
S. S. Burdette, Washington, 1885 ; Lucius 
Fairchild, Wisconsin, 1886 ; John P. Eea, 
Minnesota, 1887 ; William Warner, Mis- 
souri, 1888 ; Eussell A. Alger, Michigan, 
1889; Wheelock G. Veazey, Vermont, 1890; 
John Palmer, New York, 1891; A. G. Wies- 
sert, Wisconsin, 1892 ; John G. B. Adams, 
Massachusetts, 1893 ; Thomas G. Lawler, 
Illinois, 1894 ; Ivan N. Walker, Indiana, 
1895 ; Thaddeus S. Clarkson, Nebraska, 
1896 ; John P. S. Gobin, Pennsylvania, 

1897, and James A. Sexton, Illinois, 1898. 
The total sum disbursed by the Grand 
Army for the relief of members, their 
widows and orphans, within thirty years, 
is estimated to be in excess of $4,000,000. 

Ladies' Aid Society. — See Sons of Vet- 
erans, United States of America. 

Ladies' Auxiliary, XJ. V. L. — See Union 
Veterans' Legion. 

Loyal Ladies' League. — See Ladies of 
the G. A. E., to which title it was changed 
in 1886; also Women's Eelief Corps. 

Military and Ancestral Orders. — The 
number and variety of so-called orders in 
the United States is sufficient to confuse the 
ordinary onlooker. The word, as commonly 
used, refers to the almost innumerable secret, 
charitable, and beneficiary assessment soci- 
eties, many of which have titles beginning 
<*' Order of," "Independent Order of," 



370 



MILITARY AND ANCESTRAL ORDERS 



"Ancient Order of," or "United Order of." 
There are other secret society orders, notably 
those incorporated in or appendant to the 
Masonic Fraternity, such as the Order of the 
Temple, Order of Malta, Order of the Bed 
Cross, and the like, reference to which as 
orders, by others than members, is infre- 
quently heard. In fact, the enormous total 
membership of the various assessment bene- 
ficiary "orders" has brought them, their 
purposes, and names so frequently into the 
conversation of the general public that the 
classification, colloquially, as "orders," has 
invested the word with a new meaning. 
There are also several mystical non-bene- 
ficiary orders other than those grouped 
with Freemasonry and military orders, pat- 
terned after European models, in which, in 
some instances, membership is inherited by 
descendants of original holders. Finally, 
there are American hereditary ancestral 
orders founded on the services of ancestors 
of members to the American colonies, or to 
the United States in securing their inde- 
pendence. Some of the military orders are 
secret societies, but this is not true of the 
ancestral orders. The patriotic orders form 
an entirely distinct group, and are referred to 
under that title. Every war through which 
the country has passed has left one or more 
military orders as a legacy. All except a 
few of those commemorating the Civil War 
are non-secret, suggested in part by the So- 
ciety of the Cincinnati, which was founded 
May 10, 1783, at Temple Hill, near New 
Windsor, New York, at the last cantonment 
of the American Army, five years prior to 
the adoption of the Constitution of the 
United States, by officers of the Revolution- 
ary Army. Its records state : 

To perpetuate as well the remembrance of this 
great event as the mutual friendships which have 
been formed under the pressure of common dan- 
gers, and in numerous instances cemented by the 
blood of the parties, the officers of the American 
army do hereby, in the most solemn manner, asso- 
ciate, constitute and combine themselves into one 
Society of Friends, to endure while they shall en- 
dure, or any of their oldest male posterity who 



may be judged worthy of becoming its supporters 
and members. 

The first meeting was presided over by 
Baron Steuben at his headquarters at Fish- 
kill-on-the-Hudson. General Washington 
was its first president, and Major- General 
Knox, secretary. Alexander Hamilton suc- 
ceeded Washington as president, at which 
time the membership included represen- 
tatives from the thirteen original States. 
There are to-day eleven State organizations 
of the society, those of New Hampshire 
and Georgia not being separately repre- 
sented. Membership is limited to the eldest 
male posterity of the original members, and 
in case of the extinction of the direct line 
to the next in order of descent, if found 
worthy. In some State societies descend- 
ants in the female line are admissible when 
the male line is extinct. It is worth noting 
that the city of Cincinnati received its name 
from prominent members of the Society of 
the Cincinnati, who were respectively gov- 
ernor and secretary of the Northwestern ter- 
ritory. Members of this society, in whose 
veins runs the blood of officers who took 
part in the struggle for the independence 
of the colonies, meet annually to revive the 
memories and the glories of the War of the 
Ee volution. 

In its earlier years the society was strongly 
antagonized on account of its plan of he- 
reditary membership, and, as believed, its 
exclusive and aristocratic tendencies. Prom- 
inent among counter demonstrations were 
those by the Sons of St. Tamina, or Tam- 
many, from which the Columbian Order or 
Tammany Society of New York city took its 
origin. This feeling of opposition has long 
since passed away, and the Society of the 
Cincinnati remains the animating spirit 
and original inspiration of many other mili- 
tary orders which perpetuate the memories, 
sacrifices, and associations of American 
wars. 

For military orders commemorating the 
War of the Rebellion, modelled on the lines 
of secret societies, see the Grand Army of 



MILITARY AND ANCESTRAL ORDERS 



371 



the Eepublic, Women's Eelief Corps, Ladies 
of the G. A. E., Military Order of the 
Loyal Legion, Union Veterans' Legion, 
Sons of Veterans, United Confederate Vet- 
erans, and others. 

The Military Order of the Foreign Wars 
of the United States, instituted in 1894, 
seeks to perpetuate the names of commis- 
sioned officers in either branch of the ser- 
vice in the War of the Eevolution, war 
with Tripoli, War of 1812, and war with 
Mexico, Members, known as Companions, 
are in two classes, Veteran and Hereditary. 
Eligibility to Companionship is much the 
same as that in the Military Order of the 
Loyal Legion. 

The Aztec Club of 1847 was founded at 
the City of Mexico, by United States offi- 
cers, to cherish the memories and traditions 
of the Mexican War and of the officers 
taking part in it. Each member nominates, 
as his successor, his son or a blood relative, 
who on the death of the former succeeds 
to full membership. 

Membership in the General Society of 
the War of 1812 is confined to veterans of 
that war, lineal descendants of the same, 
or, if none, to one collateral representative, 
if deemed worthy. 

Membership in the Naval Order of the 
United States is confined to officers and 
descendants of officers who served in the 
navy and marine corps in any war or in 
any battle in which the United States naval 
forces have participated. 

The increase in the number of Ameri- 
can ancestral orders in the United States, 
almost exclusively within a decade, has 
been largely stimulated by the prominence 
achieved by the original military orders. 
Many of the former are chiefly noteworthy 
for the interest they stimulate in the gene- 
alogy of American families, their biographi- 
cal researches and records, for the collec- 
tion of data which have escaped the histo- 
rian and student of Americana, for mark- 
ing with tablets or monuments the sites of 
events of national and historic interest, and 



for the distinction conferred upon and so- 
cial opportunities offered members. The 
characteristics of some of them are referred 
to below. 

Membership in the Sons of the Ee volu- 
tion, New York city, 1875, is confined to 
men who descended from an official, civil 
or military (army or navy), in any of the 
thirteen original colonies or States, or of 
National Government, who assisted between 
April 19, 1775, and April 19, 1783, in 
securing American independence. 

Eligibility to the Sons of the American 
Eevolution, New York city, 1889, is the 
same as that to the Sons of the Eevolution, 
and the outlook is that these societies will 
become one organization. 

Members of the Order of Founders and 
Patriots, 1607-57, are lineal descendants 
(men only) from either parent who settled 
in any of the eight original colonies between 
May 13, 1607, and May 13, 1657, whose 
"intermediate ancestors" sided with the 
colonies during the War of the Eevolution. 

In the Order of Washington, eligibility 
to membership is nominally confined to de- 
scendants of those who held " some official 
position," civil or military (army and navy), 
between 1750 and 1776. 

Daughters of the Eevolution are lineal de- 
scendants of any officers, soldiers, or sailors 
in service under the colonies or original 
States or the Continental Congress; of 
signers of the Declaration of Independence, 
members of the Continental Congress, or of 
any State or Colonial Congress actually 
assisting in establishing American indepen- 
dence. 

Membership in the Daughters of the 
American Eevolution is restricted to accept- 
able women descendants from those who 
rendered material aid to the cause of Ameri- 
can independence. 

The National Society of Colonial Dames 
of America is composed of women descend- 
ants of worthy ancestors who came to 
America prior to 1750, who, or their de- 
scendants, shall have rendered service in 



372 



MILITARY ORDER OF THE LOYAL LEGION OF THE UNITED STATES 



founding a commonwealth or institution 
which survived, or who shall have held an 
important colonial office, or by distinguished 
services shall have aided in founding the 
United States. 

Members of the Society of Colonial Dames 
of America are women descendants of an- 
cestors who shall have come to America 
prior to 1776 and shall have been of effi- 
cient service in the colonial governments or 
have contributed to the establishment of the 
independence of the colonies. 

Members of the Society of Colonial Wars 
are descended in either the male or female 
line from ancestors who served as military 
or naval officers or in civil capacities in the 
American colonies daring wars against sav- 
ages or foreign powers. 

Colonial Order of the Acorn is conferred 
only on male descendants of those who re- 
sided in the American colonies prior to 1776. 

Eligibility to membership in the Daugh- 
ters of the Cincinnati is confined to descent 
from a member of the Society of the Cin- 
cinnati, or from an officer in the Revolution- 
ary army or navy who died in the service, 
and whose offspring were eligible to mem- 
bership in the Society of the Cincinnati. 
The Daughters of the Cincinnati assumed 
the name without the approval of the Soci- 
ety of the Cincinnati, and is not recognized 
by the latter. 

United States Daughters are descended 
from ancestors who in any way aided the 
American cause, either in the War of the 
Ee volution or the War of 1812. 

Descendants of the Pilgrims who landed 
at Plymouth Kock, December, 1620, have 
organized the Society of Mayflower De- 
scendants. 

The Aryan Order of St. George of the 
Holy Koman Empire in the Colonies of 
America was instituted 1892, and is con- 
ferred upon acceptable men and women of 
illustrious family, colonial or noble, "of 
the Aryan race," and may be inherited by 
their children. It compiles and preserves 
genealogical and biographical records, seeks 



" to promote social virtues," and " to repro- 
bate fashionable vices and follies." 

Military Order of the Loyal Legion 
of the United States. — Founded at Phila- 
delphia, April 15, 1865, the day following 
the death of Abraham Lincoln, by Lieuten- 
ant-Colonel S. B. W. Mitchell, Captain 
P. D. Keyser, and Lieutenant-Colonel 
T. Elwood Zell, at a meeting to arrange 
for the funeral of the President. There 
had been a movement among officers of the 
Union Army looking to the organization of 
the Military Order of the Loyal Legion, 
which the shock caused by the assassination 
of the President brought to a head. The 
revelation of a plot to murder the Cabinet, 
and rumors of a conspiracy with which offi- 
cers as well as members of the rank and file 
of the Union Army were identified, were 
well calculated to try the souls of loyal men. 
It was at such a time that the Military Order 
of the Loyal Legion was born, when shock 
and grief at the death of the President gave 
place temporarily to the supreme effort of 
strong and loyal men to maintain and pro- 
tect the federal government. The organi- 
zation is designed to cherish the memories 
and associations of the Civil War; strengthen 
the ties of fraternal fellowship between com- 
panions-in-arms; advance tne interests of 
soldiers and sailors of the United States, 
" especially those associated as companions 
of the Order; " relieve the necessities of 
their widows and children; foster the culti- 
vation of military and naval science; "en- 
force unqualified allegiance to the general 
government; protect the rights and liberties 
of American citizenship, and maintain Na- 
tional honor, union, and independence." 
It is composed of Companions of three 
classes: First, commissioned officers of the 
Army and Navy of the War of the Rebel- 
lion and the eldest lineal male descendants 
of Original Companions of the First Class, 
according to the rules of primogeniture; 
second, eldest sons of living Original Com- 
panions of the First Class who shall have 
attained the age of twenty-one years, and 



MILITARY ORDER OF THE LOYAL LEGION OF THE UNITED STATES 



373 



who,, upon the deaths of their fathers, shall 
become Companions of the First Class; and, 
third, gentlemen who in civil life were dis- 
tinguished for loyalty to the government, 
and active in maintaining the supremacy of 
the same, but the number of Companions 
in this class shall not exceed the ratio of 
one to thirty-three of those in the First 
Class. Xo additions have been made to 
this class since April 15, 1890, and, as none 
are likely to be, it promises to become ex- 
tinct, and membership in the Order to con- 
sist exclusively of officers who served in the 
Union Army and Navy iu the War of the 
Eebellion and their eldest male successors. 
The Society of the Cincinnati, founded 
by Washington, Knox, Steuben, and other 
officers of the American Army in the Revo- 
lutionary War, May 13, 1783, at Steuben's 
headquarters on the Hudson, membership 
in which descends by inheritance from father 
to son according to the laws of primogeni- 
ture, was manifestly the pattern after which 
the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of 
the United States was modelled. Together 
they are, necessarily and for obvious reasons, 
the most conservative and rigid in questions 
involving membership among American pa- 
triotic and military orders. There are 
nearly 10,000 members of the Loyal Legion, 
91 per cent, of them being Companions of 
the First Class, about 8 per cent, in the 
Second, and less than 1 per cent, in the 
Third Class. The Order has never per- 
mitted its name to be linked with pension 
or other Congressional appropriations. Its 
fundamental principles are "a firm belief 
and trust in Almighty God, extolling Him 
under whose beneficent guidance the sover- 
eignty and integrity of the LTnion have been 
maintained, the honor of the flag vindi- 
cated, and the blessings of civil liberty 
secured, established, and enlarged," and 
" True allegiance to the United States of 
America, based upon paramount respect for 
and fidelity to the Xational Constitution 
and Laws, manifested by discountenancing 
whatever may tend to weaken loyalty, incite 



insurrection, treason, or rebellion, or impair 
in any manner the efficiency and perma- 
nency of our free institutions." The in- 
signia of the Order consists of a blue Mal- 
tese cross of eight points, cantoned with 
gold rays to form a star, charged with a 
smaller white cross, displaying at the centre 
a national eagle in gold, and the motto, 
''Lex Eegit Arma Tuentur." On there- 
verse, at the centre, are a pair of crossed 
swords, a fasces ensigned with the Phrygian 
cap, thirteen stars, and a wreath of laurel, 
and the legend, M. O. Loyal Legion, U. S. 
— MDCCCLXV. There are twenty State 
Commanderies, the parent Commandery at 
Philadelphia having been instituted April 
15, 1865; and the youngest, that of Ver- 
mont, at Burlington, October 14, 1891. 
The Commandery of the State of Xew York 
was instituted at Xew York city, January 
17, 18G6, and that of Maine at Portland, on 
April 25, 1SG6; that of Massachusetts at 
Boston, March 4, 1868; California at San 
Francisco, April 12, 1871; Wisconsin at 
Milwaukee, May 15, 1874; Illinois at Chi- 
cago, May 8, 18T9; District of Columbia 
at Washington, February 1, 1882; Ohio at 
Cincinnati, May 3, 1882; Michigan at De- 
troit, February 4, 1885; Minnesota at St. 
Paul, May 6. 1885; Oregon at Portland, 
May 6, 1885; Missouri at St. Louis, Octo- 
ber 21, 1885; Nebraska at Omaha, October 
21, 1885, on which date, also, was insti- 
tuted the Commaudery-in-chief, with head- 
quarters at Philadelphia; Kansas at Leaven- 
worth, April 22, 1886; Iowa at Des Moines, 
October 20, 1886; Colorado at Denver, June 
1, 1887; Indiana at Indianapolis, October 
17, 1888, and the State of Washington at 
Tacoma, January 14, 1891. The Command- 
ery-in-chief meets once a year, and once in 
four years a congress is held, composed of 
the Commander-in-chief, the Recorder-in- 
ch ief, and three representatives from each 
State Commandery. The following is a list 
of the Commanders-in-chief during the past 
thirty-two years: Major-General George 
Cadwalader, Major-General Winfield Scott 



374 



NATIONAL ORDER, LADIES OF THE G. A. R. 



Hancock, General Philip H. Sheridan, Ma- 
jor-General Butherford B. Hayes, Briga- 
dier-General Lucius Fairchild, Major-Gen- 
eral John Gibbon, and Bear Admiral Ban- 
croft Gherardi. The Loyal Legion is stated 
by Eecorder-in-chief Lieutenant-Colonel 
John P. Nicholson, in a letter to the writer, 
to " antedate the Grand Army of the Ee- 
public by more than a year," as shown by 
the fact that " a portion of the constitution " 
(of the G. A. E.) and also the preamble to 
the constitution were taken from the first 
constitution of the Loyal Legion, published 
in September, 1865. 

\ National Order, Ladies of the GL A. K. 
— Organized as the. Loyal Ladies' League, 
auxiliary to the Grand Army of the Bepub- 
lic, Department of New Jersey, December 
15, 1881, from various Grand Army of the 
Eepublic aid societies which sent delegates 
to Trenton to form a State organization in 
response to a request from the Commander 
of the Department of New Jersey. The 
first president was Mrs. Carrie M. Burge 
of Vineland. A distinctive badge, rules, 
etc., were adopted at the Trenton Conven- 
tion, in which eight subordinate leagues 
were represented. Only mothers, wives, 
sisters, and daughters of honorably dis- 
charged Union veterans of the War of the 
Eebellion were eligible to membership, and 
its objects were to encourage loyalty, " love 
for each other," and "the precepts of true 
fraternity; " "to perpetuate and keep for- 
ever sacred Memorial Day; " to assist the 
Grand Army of the Eepublic in its work, 
and to relieve members and other soldiers 
and sailors in sickness and distress. In 
1883, after the League had spread into 
Pennsylvania, the meeting of women's aux- 
iliary societies was held at Denver to unite 
them all if possible in .one body. (See 
Women's Relief Corps.) As the New Jer- 
sey delegates, Mrs. S. D. Hugg and Mrs. 
Laura McNeir, declined to agree to the plan 
to make all loyal women eligible to member- 
ship and insisted on confining membership 
to women relatives of veterans, the Women's 



Eelief Corps, auxiliary to the G. A. E., was 

founded without New Jersey, and the action 
of its own delegates was endorsed by the New 
Jersey Loyal Ladies' League. Three years 
later the League had branches in Kansas, 
California, Ohio, Delaware, and West Vir- 
ginia, in addition to those in New Jersey 
and Pennsylvania, representatives from 
which met in convention at Chicago, No- 
vember 18, 1886, where the Loyal Ladies' 
League united with a local Grand Army 
aid society known as the Ladies of the 
G. A. E. under the title National Order, 
Ladies of the G. A. E., with Mrs. Laura 
McNeir, of Camden, N. J., as National 
President. The total membership in eigiit 
States, when last reported, was about 3,000. 
The badge of the Order resembles that of 
the Grand Army itself, except that the name, 
Ladies of the Grand Army of the Eepublic 
— 1886, encircles the design in the centre 
of the five-pointed star. 

Soldiers and Sailors' League. — A 
secret organization of soldiers and sailors 
of the War of the Eebellion, with head- 
quarters at St. Louis, which was a fore- 
runner of and ultimately was absorbed by 
the Grand Army of the Eepublic. (See 
the latter. ) 

Sons of Veterans, U. S. A. — Organized 
by Major A. P. Davis, at Pittsburg, Pa., 
under this title, from existing Cadet Corps 
attached to posts of the Grand Army of 
the Eepublic. The earliest similar Corps 
organized was by a committee appointed 
by Anna M. Eoss Post, No. 94, G. A. E., 
Philadelphia, August 27, 1878, which on 
September 29 called itself Camp No. 1 of 
Philadelphia, Order of Sons of Veterans. 
Other Grand Army posts in Philadelphia 
and elsewhere throughout Pennsylvania 
organized Cadet Corps, and in July, 1880, 
as related by Beath in his historical sketch 
of the society, a division or State organ- 
ization was completed with Conrad Linder 
as Colonel. The latter was succeeded by 
James H. Classon, and by 1881 the or- 
der, as it was called, had spread to New 



UNION VETERANS 1 LEGION 



375 



Jersey, Delaware, and JS"ew York. In the lat- 
ter year a national organization was effected 
with Alfred Cope as Commander. In 1883 
thirty-three Camps of the Pennsylvania 
division withdrew and joined the Sons of 
Veterans, United States of America, first 
referred to, organized by Major Davis. 
This left only three Camps of the older 
Order of Sons of Veterans, which in 1886 
united with the Sons of Veterans, United 
States of America. In 1888 the Grand 
Army of the Eepublic in Xational Encamp- 
ment at Columbus, 0., formally endorsed 
the objects and purposes of the Sons of Vet- 
erans, United States of America, and offi- 
cially recognized it and recommended the 
institution of camps of the same. The Or- 
der is essentially military in character and 
ceremonial work. Section 1 of its consti- 
tution says: 

All male descendants, not less than eighteen 
years of age, of deceased or honorably discharged 
soldiers, sailors, or marines -who served in the 
Union Army or Navy during the Civil War of 
1861-65, shall be eligible to membership, provided 
that no person shall be eligible who has ever been 
convicted of any infamous crime, or who has, or 
whose father has ever borne arms against the Gov- 
ernment of the United States of America. 

The objects of Sons of Veterans in thus 
banding themselves together are : 

1. To keep green the memories of our fathers, 
and their sacrifices for the maintenance of the 
Union ; 2. to aid the members of the Grand Army 
of the Republic and all honorably discharged Union 
soldiers, sailers, and marines in the caring for 
their helpless and disabled veterans ; to extend aid 
and protection to their widows and orphans ; to 
perpetuate the memory and history of their heroic 
dead, and the proper observance of Memorial Day 
and Union Defenders' Day ; 3. to aid and assist 
worthy and needy members of our Order, and, 4. 
to inculcate patriotism and love of country, not 
only among our membership, but among all the 
people of our land, and to spread and sustain the 
doctrine of equal rights, universal liberty, and 
justice to all. 

The Order of the Sons of Veterans, 
United States of America, is clearly of 
Grand Army and Masonic origin. Its 
growth since being formally recognized 



by the Grand Army of the Eepublic 
has been rapid, extending to nearly every 
State in the Union. Its membership 
is about 100,000. The Ladies' Aid So- 
ciety auxiliary to the Sons of Veterans 
numbers a few thousand members and 
seeks to perform a service similar to that 
rendered the Grand Army by the Women's 
Relief Corps and the Ladies of the G. A. R. 
The Sons of Veterans indulge in the luxury 
of a supplementary order, or degree, known 
to the profane as the A. 0. G. Xone but 
Veterans and Sons of Veterans are eligible 
to unite with conclaves of the Ancient 
Order of Gophers. When these conclaves 
are in session, it is inferred that something 
of a recreative nature is indulged in, so far 
as some of those present are concerned. 

Union Veterans' Legion. — Organized 
at Pittsburg, Pa., March, 1881, by A. B. 
Hoy, David Lowry, Samuel Harper, X. W. 
Tyson, and A. L. Pearson, among whom Mr. 
Harper was a Freemason and the rest were 
members of the Grand Army of the Repub- 
lic. It has about 150 encampments, as its 
subordinate bodies are called, in the prin- 
cipal States, from which Federal troops were 
drawn during the Rebellion. Only surviv- 
ing Union officers, soldiers, sailors, and 
marines of the Civil War may become mem- 
bers, those who volunteered prior to July 
1, 1863, for a term of three years and were 
honorably discharged for any cause after a 
service of at least two continuous years, or 
were at any time discharged by reason of 
wounds received in line of duty; also, those 
who volunteered for a term of two years 
prior to July 22, 1861, and served their full 
term of enlistment, unless discharged for 
wounds received in line of duty; but no 
drafted person or substitute, nor any one 
who has at any time borne arms against the 
United States, is eligible. These conditions 
of eligibility differ radically from those in 
the Grand x4.rmy of the Republic, which 
any honorably discharged ex-soldier or sailor 
of the Civil War may join, if elected, 
whether he ever participated in a battle or 



376 



UNITED CONFEDERATE VETERANS 



not, whether going as a substitute or not, 
and irrespective of term of service. They 
also differ from the requisites for admission 
to the First Class in the Loyal Legion, 
which ex-officers of the Union Army and 
Navy in the late war may join irrespective 
of length of term of actual service. Loyalty 
to the United States Government ; the 
moral, social, and intellectual improvement 
of members; their relief and that of their 
widows and orphans; the preservation of 
" fraternity, charity, and patriotism," and, 
"all other things being equal," the prefer- 
ence of members in business are among the 
objects of the Legion. Its "work" differs 
from that of other military orders, but, like 
them, preserves a strictly military muster- 
ing-in service, or initiatory ceremony. The 
organization is non-partisan in character, 
and partisan questions are not discussed 
at meetings. Its "recruiting ground" is 
the Grand Army of the Republic and the 
Military Order of the Loyal Legion. The 
total membership in 1896 was 20,000. The 
Ladies' Auxiliary of the Union Veterans' 
Legion, organized to perform a similar ser- 
vice to that rendered the Grand Army of 
the Republic by the Women's Relief Corps, 
and by the Ladies of the G. A. R., numbers 
about 2,500 members. The badge of the 
Legion is a shield containing a monogram 
formed of the letters U. V. L. ; the words, 
" Three years we have served," and the 
dates 1861 and 1865. 

United Confederate Veterans. — A 
federation of ex-Confederate soldiers, first 
suggested and advocated by Captain J. F. 
Shipp, C. S. A., at a banquet on the an- 
niversary of Stonewall Jackson's birthday, 
January 21, 1889, by the Louisiana Division 
of the Army of Northern Virginia. At 
that time there were four organizations 
of ex-Confederate soldiers in New Orleans, 
the Army of Northern Virginia, Louisiana 
Division ; Army of Tennessee, Louisiana 
Division ; Washington Light Artillery 
Association, and the Confederate Cavalry 
Association, all but the latter being local 



organizations. The members maintained 
cemeteries and provided for widows and 
orphans of fallen comrades. The Confed- 
erate Cavalry Association had been formed 
at a meeting at New Orleans called by 
General W. H. Jackson, C. S. A., who was 
its first and only Commander, and was 
still officiating when the Association was 
merged into the United Confederate Vet- 
erans. It was about the time that the 
Army of the Cumberland was advocating 
the purchase of the Chickamauga battle- 
field for a national park. The Confederates 
unorganized were not able to be of assist- 
ance, " though the park was desired by 
both Confederates and Federals to perpetu- 
ate the valor of both upon the bloody field." 
The United Confederate Veterans' Associa- 
tion was organized at New Orleans, June 
10, 1889, about fifty camps and associations 
of ex-Confederate soldiers being repre- 
sented. General John B. Gordon, the 
Confederate hero of the battle of Sharps- 
burg, was elected first Commander. The 
first reunion of ex-Confederate Veterans 
was held at Chattanooga, July 3, 4, and 5, 
1890, and so large was the attendance and so 
great the enthusiasm that a strong impetus 
was given the newly formed association. 
Reunions were held at Jackson, Mississippi,, 
in June, 1891 ; at New Orleans in April, 
1892 ; Houston, Texas, in May, 1895 ; Rich- 
mond, Va., in June, 1896, and at Nashville 
in June, 1897, where Commander Gordon, the 
first and therefore the only Commander, was 
again reelected. Among its projects were 
the location of the proposed Battle Abbey 
for the preservation of Southern relics of 
the war, and the erection of a monument at 
Richmond, Va., to Jefferson Davis. The 
latest list of camps numbers 1,006, divided 
among the States as follows : Texas, 223 ; 
South Carolina, 95 ; Alabama, 91; Missouri, 
73 ; Georgia, 72 ; Arkansas, 67 ; Missis- 
sippi, 66 ; Tennessee, 59 ; Louisiana, 53 ; 
Kentucky, 45 ; North Carolina, 38 ; Vir- 
ginia, 38 ; Florida, 30 ; West Virginia, 17; 
Indian Territory, 15 ; Maryland, 7 ; Okla 



WOMEN'S RELIEF CORPS 



377 



homa, 7 ; New Mexico, 3 ; Illinois, 2 ; Mon- 
tana, 2; California, 1 ; District of Columbia, 
1, and Indiana, 1. Its purposes are social, 
literary, historical, and benevolent. Its 
constitution says : 

It will endeavor to unite in a general federation 
all associations of Confederate veterans, soldiers 
and sailors, now in existence or hereafter to be 
formed ; to gather authentic data for an impartial 
history of the war between the States ; to preserve 
relics or mementos of the same ; to cherish the 
ties of friendship that should exist among men who 
have shared common dangers, common sufferings, 
and privations ; to care for the disabled and extend 
a helping hand to the needy; to protect the widows 
and the orphans, and to make and preserve a record 
of the resources of every member, and, as far as 
possible, of those of our comrades who have preceded 
us in eternity. 

Local bodies are called Camps and State 
organizations, Divisions. The headquarters 
of the association are at New Orleans. The 
total membership is about 50,000. 
-\ Women's Relief Corps. — An auxiliary 
to the Grand Army of the Eepublic, founded 
by Bosworth Belief Corps, auxiliary to Bos- 
worth Post, G. A. R., Portland, Me., in 
1869. The title, Women's Relief Corps, 
appeared when the first State organization 
of these societies was formed at Fitch- 
burg, Mass., in April, 1879. Several Na- 
tional Encampments of the Grand Army 
of the Republic were asked to officially 
endorse or adopt these Women's Auxiliary 
Corps, and while the replies were encourag- 
ing, nothing was done until 1881, when, on 
the report of Chaplain-in-chief Rev. Joseph 
F. Lovering, the National Encampment 
approved the work of the Women's Relief 
Corps and authorized them to add to their 
title " Auxiliary to the Grand Army of the 
Republic." As pointed out by Grand Army 
historian Beath, "all existing ladies' aux- 
iliaries " were invited to send representatives 
to Denver, when the National Encampment 



met there in 1883 to form one Women's 
Auxiliary to the Grand Army out of several 
which existed without a national organiza- 
tion. The ladies responded and were a 
unit as to the advisability of union, but 
could not agree as to what women should 
be eligible for admission as members, the 
majority favoring the Massachusetts eligi- 
bility clause, admitting all loyal women 
whether related to veterans or not, and the 
minority, the New Jersey delegates, advo- 
cating restriction of membership to women 
relatives of Union veterans. The newty 
formed Women's Relief Corps was then re- 
organized on the same lines as the Grand 
Army and cordially welcomed by the latter 
in national convention. The New Jersey 
delegates declined to join the new organiza- 
tion. (See Ladies of the G. A. R.) ("The 
objects of the Women's Relief Corps are 
" to specially aid and assist the Grand 
Army of the Republic and to perpetuate 
the memory of their heroic dead ; to assist 
such Union veterans as need protection 
and to extend needful aid to their widows 
and orphans ; to find them homes and em- 
ployment and assure them of sympathy and 
friends ; to cherish and emulate the deeds 
of our army nurses and of all loyal women 
who rendered loving service to their country 
in her hour of peril ; to inculcate lessons of 
patriotism and love of country among our 
children and in the communities in which 
we live ; to maintain true allegiance to the 
United States of America ; to discourage 
whatever tends to weaken loyalty, and to 
encourage the spread of universal liberty 
and equal rights to all mem/' The growth 
of this organization w^s from 10,085 
in 1884 to 17,854 in 1885, to 36,632 in 
1886, 49,590 in 1887, 63,214 in 1888, and 
to 140,305 in 1895. The total amount 
expended for relief has been nearly 
$1,500,000. 




378 



AGRICULTURAL WHEEL 



X 



LABOB AND BAILWAY BBOTHEBHOODS AKD 
COOFEBATIVE FRATERNITIES 



Agricultural Wheel. — An early off- 
shoot of the Order of Patrons of Hus- 
bandry in the Southern States. It was 
afterwards absorbed by the National Farm- 
ers' Alliance. (See both societies.) 

Agriculturists' National Protective 
Association. — The title given to a secret 
organization of farmers, 1895-96, said to have 
originated with and to have been controlled 
by members of the National Farmers' Alli- 
ance, to enhance the price of wheat by with- 
holding it from consumption. (See Na- 
tional Farmers' Alliance.) 

Amalgamated Association of Iron 
and Steel Workers of the United States. 
— Founded by Joseph Bishop of Pittsburg, 
Pa. ; John Jarrett of Sharon, Pa., and David 
A. Plant of Columbus, 0., in 1876. It 
became, within a decade, one of the most 
influential trades unions. Its meetings are 
secret, and its members have secret means 
of making themselves known to each other. 
Fifteen years ago not even the Knights of 
Labor, although having a much larger mem- 
bership, wielded a greater influence in its 
own sphere than the Amalgamated Associa- 
tion of Iron and Steel Workers. The latter 
was born almost at the low ebb of the trade 
depression following the panic of 1873, and 
after a few years of conservative growth 
found itself in an enviable position by rea- 
son of the boom in iron and steel which be- 
gan in 1879 and continued well into the 
following decade. Centred in and about 
Pittsburg, with branches throughout west- 
ern Pennsylvania and a few at more remote 
points, this Association practically deter- 
mined the rates of wages and hours of labor 
for its members for a period of years, and 
carried abroad the reputations of such of its 



leaders as John Jarrett, William Weihe, 
and M. M. Garland. During late years its 
membership has declined and its influence 
is felt less, though it still ranks among the 
best managed and most efficient secret trades 
unions in the country. In 1895 its total 
membership was about 10,000, and was not 
far from that two years later. It pays no 
sick or death benefits, but a defence fund 
is accumulated by means of monthly assess- 
ments, from which $4 weekly is paid to 
members in good standing who are on strike 
or locked out. Each candidate initiated 
pledges himself on his word of honor to 
maintain the laws, rules, and rates of wages 
adopted by the Association. In 1892 a 
number of the rollers, heaters, rough ers, 
and catchers in the Amalgamated Associa- 
tion became dissatisfied, seceded, and organ- 
ized the National Union of Iron and Steel 
Workers as a rival society, but it never rose 
to the prominence or influence of the parent 
organization. (See National Union of Iron 
and Steel Workers.) 

American Flint Glass Workers' 
Union. — A trades union formed on the 
lodge system, with a ritual and other appur- 
tenances of the conventional secret society. 
It was founded in 1878, with headquarters 
at Pittsburg, and, oddly enough, is affiliated 
with the non-secret confederation of trades 
unions, the American Federation of Labor, 
notwithstanding various features of its secret 
work and ceremonial point to its having 
been the creation of Knights of Labor, 
which is a secret brotherhood made up of 
representatives of almost all lines of indus- 
trial activity. The Glass Workers' Union 
pays sick and death benefits, and during its 
existence of nearly twenty years has paid 



AMERICAN RAILWAY UNION 



379 



more than $1,000,000 to sick and distressed 
members and to relatives of those deceased. 
It has about 10,000 members. • 

American Railway Union. — Founded 
at Chicago, in 1893, by Eugene V. Debs of 
the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, 
a resident of Terre Haute, Ind., with whom 
were associated George W. Howard, Chi- 
cago, of the Order of Railway Conductors; 
Sylvester Keliher, Minneapolis, of the 
Brotherhood of Bail way Carmen, and L.W. 
Rogers, Chicago, of the Brotherhood of 
Railway Trainmen, as a secret fraternity of 
railway employes. At first it was an open 
trades union, and as such begun and man- 
aged the sympathetic strike of railway em- 
ployes at and near Chicago in aid of the 
strike at Pullman, 111., in 1894, which ended 
in Debs and Howard being imprisoned for 
contempt of the Federal court. After a 
brief incarceration the leaders named, with 
remaining members of the American Rail- 
way Union, reorganized the latter as a secret 
society on the plan of the Knights of Labor, 
with the design of forming a strong central 
authority to control all branches of railway 
employes, in opposition to the several sepa- 
rate and independent secret brotherhoods 
and orders of railway employes. Prior to 
his connection with the Engineers, Debs 
was for fourteen years secretary of the Fire- 
men's Brotherhood, and had for years been 
actively at work to unite the secret railway 
labor organizations. In arguing for his plan 
Mr. Debs referred to the " perfect machine " 
formed by the railway managers, who, he 
said, have "reduced the number of railway 
managements from 357 to only fifteen con- 
trolling bodies," which, he adds, are ce- 
mented into a single union "by the Gen- 
eral Managers' Association." The argu- 
ment is, naturally, that to successfully 
combat the influence of practically a single 
railway employer there must be a strong 
secret federation of all employes. 

In a speech at Philadelphia, in 1895, 
Debs said: " The American Railway Union 
showed its organization on the Great North- 



ern in 1894, when every man in its employ, 
engineers, firemen, conductors, brakemen, 
laborers, shop mechanics, and even clerks 
and janitors, went out and won the battle. 
The great strike of 1894, at Chicago, was 
won, not by the railroad, but by the Federal 
courts and United States troops." In 1894 
and 1895 the membership of most of the 
half dozen railway brotherhoods and orders 
decreased heavily, in part due to the " hard 
times" and in part as a result of the con- 
tinued antagonism of the American Railway 
Union and the defeat sustained in the strike 
at Chicago in 1894. The Firemen were de- 
clared by the St. Louis " Globe Democrat " 
at the close of 1894 to have lost more than 
4,000 members within a year, the Switch- 
men's Association to have become little 
more than a nominal organization, and the 
Carmen's Brotherhood to have "gone to 
pieces." A similar story was told of the 
Order of Railway Telegraphers. The Loco- 
motive Engineers were reported to have lost 
8,000 members, the Trainmen 4,000, and 
the Conductors a large number. Mean- 
while the American Railway Union forged 
slowly ahead, districted the country and 
formed new secret unions. Fears of black- 
listing by railway companies prevent the 
Union from publishing the names of its 
members, so its leaders, while claiming a 
large membership, declined to furnish the 
approximate total. One of the four organ- 
izers wrote, December 8, 1894, that both 
men and women are eligible to join the 
organization and that there were 140,000 
names on the rolls. The Union had prob- 
ably fewer members in 1896 than in 1895, 
but constituted a factor in the world of 
transportation which was not overlooked. 
The independent railway brotherhoods and 
orders which suffered a loss of membership 
in 1894 and 1895 have revived, and most of 
them are prosperous. In total membership, 
available relief funds, and other evidences 
of progress, the Locomotive Engineers, Fire- 
men, Conductors, and others present statis- 
tics rivalling the most favorable heretofore 



380 



BRICKLAYERS AND MASONS' INTERNATIONAL UNION OF AMERICA 



exhibited by them. The American Eailway 
Union in 1896 bore a relation to them sim- 
ilar to that between the Knights of Labor 
and the American Federation of Labor. 
(See Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers.) 
In June, 1897, the American Eailway Union, 
in session at Chicago, was formally dissolved 
to make way for the new cooperative pro- 
ject of the Union leaders, entitled the Social 
Democracy of America; and in July, 1897, 
the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, 
Brotherhood of Eailway Trainmen, Order 
of Eailway Conductors, Brotherhood of 
Locomotive Firemen, and Order of Eailway 
Telegraphers " formed a coalition and 
pledged themselves r to stand ready to help 
each other." In the future "the unions 
will work as a unit ... to resent any at- 
tack on its members or any attempt to en- 
act legislation detrimental to the interests 
of labor in general." 

Bricklayers and Masons' Interna- 
tional Union of America. — This is one 
of the comparatively few labor unions of 
international importance which have been 
formed on the lines of secret societies, with 
rather more than a mere means of recogni- 
tion, which constitutes practically the only 
secrecy of the ordinary labor union. Citi- 
zens of the United States and Canada, or 
those who declare their intention of becom- 
ing such, are eligible for membership. The 
society was formed in Baltimore in 1865, 
but the organization was not perfected until 
at a meeting in Philadelphia in 1866. John 
A. "White of Baltimore was its first presi- 
dent. The Union held its thirty-third an-' 
nual convention at Hartford in 1899. Its 
objects are to unite in one body, for mutual 
protection and benefit, all members of the 
mason craft, or who work at the same. 
There is no restriction as to creed or color, 
the endeavor being to maintain a "just 
scale of wages " and the so-called eight-hour 
day, which has been adopted at almost all 
leading cities throughout the country. The 
Union numbers about 45,000 members in the 
United States and 5,000 in the Dominion of 



Canada. It does not include the plasterers 
and stone-cutters, which have unions of 
their own, although the former are admitted 
to the Bricklayers and Masons' Union where 
there are no plasterers' unions. Death, 
accident, and sick benefits are paid by sub- 
ordinate unions; death benefits, which range 
from $50 to $500, by assessment; and acci- 
dent and sick benefits, ranging from $10 to 
$25, are met by dues. This Union is not 
affiliated with any other labor organization. 
It encourages strikes only as a last resort 
and after all peaceful means for settlement 
of disputes have failed. It is a firm be- 
liever in the desirability of arbitration, and 
congratulates itself on not having had a 
strike for nearly a decade. 

Brotherhood of Locomotive Engi- 
neers. — Founded by W. D. Eobinson of 
Marshall, Mich. ; Charles Steele, Norwalk, 
O.; J. P. Fox, Chicago; J. T. Johnson, 
Lafayette, Ind. ; Francis Wheeler, Adrian, 
Mich., and William Dempster of Chicago, in 
1863, as a secret, fraternal, mutual benefit 
labor organization. It is the oldest and has 
continued first as to conservative and suc- 
cessful management among the various secret 
societies of railway employes in the United 
States. It forms a type of fraternities of 
this class, and has been more or less success- 
fully imitated by the Order of Eailway Con- 
ductors, founded in 1868; the Brotherhoods 
of Eailway Locomotive Firemen, 1873 ; Eail- 
way Trainmen, 1883; Eailway Carmen of 
America, 1890, and by the Switchmen's 
Union of North America, organized in 
1894. The Brotherhood of Telegraphers, 
formed by operators in the employ of rail- 
way companies nearly a score of years ago, 
was modelled after the same pattern. The 
reasons which induced the founders of the 
Locomotive Engineers' Brotherhood to 
adopt the secret society system for attain- 
ing their ends are not made public by their 
successors, but when the Brotherhood was 
organized, there were only a few widespread 
secret fraternities in the country compared 
with the number now in existence. The 



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382 



BROTHERHOOD OF LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEERS 



more conspicuous of those which crossed 
State lines at the outbreak of the war were 
the Freemasons, Odd Fellows, Improved 
Order of Eed Men, Ancient Order of Hiber- 
nians, Ancient Order of Druids, the Senior 
and Junior Orders of United American Me- 
chanics ; Patriotic Order, Sons of America ; 
the Kechabites, Good Templars, Sons of 
Temperance, and the older Greek-letter fra- 
ternities scattered through leading colleges. 
JNTone of the several hundred-and-one mu- 
tual assessment, life insurance, secret soci- 
eties which have since become so prominent 
had been born, those named which now 
present that feature having incorporated it 
since 1863. The Brotherhood of Locomo- 
tive Engineers itself did not adopt a plan 
for the payment of benefits at the death of 
members until it had perfected its machin- 
ery for acting as an intermediary between 
railway companies and locomotive engineer 
employes looking to the receipt by the lat- 
ter of the highest wages consistent with a 
like efficiency. There is very little likeli- 
hood that the engineers framed a ritual 
aud ceremonial and adopted signs of recog- 
nition, passAVords, and the like, similar to 
the " work "of the college fraternities, the 
temperance societies, the patriotic organiza- 
tions, the Druids, or the Hibernians. Nearly 
all of these directly or otherwise drew their 
plans on Masonic models, which, in view 
of the visible evidences of the symbolism 
and general organization of the Brother- 
hood, leads to the conclusion that its found- 
ers, or some of their successors among its 
leaders, were affiliated with the mother of 
nearly all modern secret societies of good 
repute. P. M. Arthur of Cleveland, 0., 
for many years Grand Master of the Brother- 
hood, has an international reputation for 
having placed the organization in the first 
rank among labor unions. He began life as 
a wiper and was promoted successively to 
be fireman and engineer. He differs from 
some leaders of organized labor through 
having a broader and better education and 
a keen perception of what is due to em- 



ployer as well as to employe in discussions 
involving mutual interests, in which he has 
always given evidence of a desire and inten- 
tion to be just. He counsels his followers 
to shun saloons and gambling dens, and de- 
clares that where the Brotherhood has failed 
to give adequate protection it was because 
of the treachery of the members themselves. 
The Brotherhood rightfully claims to be in- 
ternational in extent, as it includes many 
locomotive engineers on Canadian and Mexi- 
can railways. Its total membership numbers 
about 35,000, and represents one section 
of the clearest-headed, most progressive, 
and intelligent skilled labor in America. 
The organization pays sick and death bene- 
fits by means of mutual assessments, and 
the total sum so appropriated amounts to 
nearly $7,000,000. There is also an aux- 
iliary organization for women relatives of 
members of the Brotherhood. The career 
of the Brotherhood has been marked by 
fewer strikes than similar organizations in 
proportion to the number of years it has 
been in existence, its policy being to dis- 
countenance them except as a last resort, 
and after all other proper remedies have 
been exhausted. It has found itself antag- 
onized several times by engineers attached 
to the Knights of Labor, and once by the 
American Bailway Union in the strike of 
1894 at Chicago. After each of these strug- 
gles it invariably became stronger than be- 
fore. In 1895 a federation was formed of 
the Brotherhoods of Locomotive Engineers 
and Firemen and the Orders of Railway 
Conductors, Trainmen, and Telegraphers, 
an offensive and defensive alliance, for co- 
operation in the settlement of controversies 
with railway companies. A large number 
of members of the orders named attended 
preliminary meetings held at Indianapolis, 
Chicago, and Denver, leading representa- 
tives at the city first named being P. M. 
Arthur, Chief of the Brotherhood of Loco- 
motive Engineers; Chief Frank P. Sargent 
of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen; 
Chief E. E. Clark of the Order of Railway 



BROTHERHOOD OF RAILWAY TRAINMEN 



383 



Conductors; Chief P. H. Morrison of the 
Order of Railway Trainmen, and Chief 
K. R. Austin of the Order of Railway 
Telegraphers. At the Chicago convention 
resolutions were adopted favoring the right 
of trial by jury for every man, appeal from 
the unreasonable decision of any Federal 
judge in case of punishment for contempt 
of court, arid the principle of arbitration 
for the adjustment of differences between 
the employed and the employer. This fed- 
eration was formed apparently in opposition 
to a union of railway employes in one secret 
organization under the title American Rail- 
way Union, formed in 1893 by Eugene V. 
Debs. The latter still lives, but little is 
known of its numerical strength. There 
has been no occasion for a demonstration of 
the efficiency of the Federation of Railway 
Brotherhoods and Orders since its forma- 
tion, and the amount of vitality remaining 
in it must be conjectured. An evidence of 
the business-like methods of the Brother- 
hood of Locomotive Engineers is found in 
contracts between it and more than one 
hundred railway companies, by which the 
nature of services to be rendered by engi- 
neers and the compensation to be paid by rail- 
way companies are placed beyond dispute. 
In July, 1897, an offensive and defensive 
alliance to protect their mutual interests 
was formed between the railway engineers, 
firemen, trainmen, and telegraphers. 

Brotherhood of Locomotive Fire- 
men. — Founded by Joshua A. Leach of 
Port Jervis, X. Y., as a railway employes' 
union, similar in purpose to the Brotherhood 
of Locomotive Engineers formed ten years 
before. It numbers more than 25,000 loco- 
motive firemen on Canadian, Mexican, and 
American railways, pays sick benefits at the 
option of local lodges, and death benefits 
by means of mutual assessments throughout 
the Brotherhood. There is a women's aux- 
iliary for women only* Mr. F. P. Sargent, 
who has for many years been Grand Master 
of the organization, is among the highly re- 
spected and the better known labor lead- 



ers in the United States. Though it suffered 
losses in consequence of the inroads made 
upon it by the American Railway Union in 
the years 1893-95, the past year or two have 
brought a large increase in membership and 
material prosperity. Since 1880, when the 
life and disability feature was adopted, the 
Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen has 
paid nearly 84,000,000 in benefits. The 
teachings of its ceremonial of initiation are 
charity, industry, sobriety, and protection. 
(See Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers 
and the American Railway Union.) 

Brotherhood of Railway Carmen of 
America. — Founded in 1890 by W. H. 
Ronemus of Cedar Rapids, la. ; S. Keliher, 
Minneapolis; W. S. Missimer, St. Joseph, 
Mo. ; F. L. Ronemus, Estherville, Mo., and 
X. B. Chambers of Fairbury, Neb., as a 
railway employes' secret trades union. It 
was suggested by the success of similar rail- 
way employes' societies among the engi- 
neers, firemen, conductors, and trainmen. 
Among the founders were several Knights 
of Labor and one Odd Fellow, but the ritual 
of the Brotherhood suggests the Masonic in- 
fluence which dominated those who prepared 
rituals for the societies after which this was 
modelled. Its membership in 1895 num- 
bered more than 4,000, about 300 members 
being on Canadian and Mexican railways. 
Local lodges pay sick and disability bene- 
fits if they wish. Those who desire may 
insure their lives in an auxiliary mutual aid 
society. The motto of the Brotherhood is 
"Friendship, Unity, and True Brotherly 
Love." The business depression of 1895 
reduced its total membership, so that for a 
time it had only a nominal existence, but 
it has since shown signs of life and growth. 
(See Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers 
and the American Railway Union. ) 

Brotherhood of Railway Trainmen. 
— A railway employes' trades union, organ- 
ized on the basis of a secret society. It was 
founded in 1883, being the natural out- 
growth of similar societies among locomo- 
tive engineers and firemen and railway 



384 



BROTHERHOOD OF UNITED LABOR 



conductors, and, like them, including 
among its 25,000 members many employes 
on railways in the Canadian Dominion and 
in Mexico as well as in the United States. 
Subordinate lodges pay sick benefits at 
their option, and the Brotherhood at large, 
by means of assessments, pays death and 
total disability benefits of $1,200 each. Ex- 
cluding sick benefits, the total sum paid 
as described amounts to about $3,000,000. 
The secret ceremonial is based on the work 
and duties of railway employes in train ser- 
vice and is modelled after that in nse in 
the other organizations referred to. The 
Brotherhood suffered from a decrease in 
membership after the great railway strike 
at Chicago in 1894, but within the past two 
years has grown and prospered. The chief 
emblem of the organization displays railway 
signal flags and a lantern. Much of its 
success is attributed to the prudent man- 
agement of Grand Master S. E. Wilkinson 
of Galesburg, 111. (See Brotherhood of Lo- 
comotive Engineers and the American Kail- 
way Union.) In July, 1897, the trainmen 
united with the railway engineers, firemen, 
conductors, and telegraphers in a coalition 
to protect their mutual interests. 

Brotherhood of United Labor. — 
Eormed about twelve years ago by members 
of the Order of Knights of Labor. It pat- 
terned closely after its parent, but did not 
live long. (See Order of Knights of Labor. ) 

Commonwealth of Jesus. — Official ad- 
dress, San Erancisco, Cal. It teaches organ- 
ized Christian cooperation in order to attain 
the highest development of the spiritual, 
mental, and physical interests of humanity. 

Crowned Republic. — The title of a pro- 
jected fraternity the would-be founders of 
which claim to have solved the problem of 
social reorganization and that " it is possible 
to secure personal freedom, social unity, and 
universal wealth." The plan was published 
in Boston in 1860 and elaborated in 1879. 

Daughters of St. Crispin. — Women's 
trades union auxiliary to Knights of St. 
Crispin. (See the latter.) 



Improved Order of Advanced Knights 
of Labor. — A short-lived, schismatic branch 
of the Order of Knights of Labor, organized 
at Baltimore in 1883. (See Order of Knights 
of Labor. ) 

Independent Knights of Labor. — Or- 
ganized by seceding members of the Order 
of Knights of Labor, at Binghamton, N". 
Y., late in 1883. It lived less than one 
year. (See Order of Knights of Labor.) 

Independent Order of Knights of La- 
bor. — Organized at Columbus, 0., in Feb- 
ruary, 1895, by prominent members of the 
Order of Knights of Labor, brass workers, 
glass workers, and coal miners, who were 
dissatisfied with the management of the 
parent society. Eor a short time it gave 
promise of seriously rivalling the older body, 
but for two years maintained little more 
than a nominal existence. It was absorbed 
by the Knights of Labor in the spring of 
1897. (See Order of Knights of Labor.) 

International Association of Machin- 
ists. — Founded in 1888 with headquarters 
at Richmond, Va. It is one of the larger 
though younger trades unions established 
on the lodge system, having signs for the 
identification of members known only to 
the initiated. It disclaims, through lead- 
ing officials, direct descent from any of the 
older secret trades unions, yet it possesses 
characteristics of all of them, and is, in fact, 
a legitimate descendant of such organiza- 
tions as the Amalgamated Association of 
Iron and Steel Workers, National Union of 
Iron and Steel Workers, American Flint 
Glass Workers' Union, and others. The 
Association of Machinists reports more than 
500 lodges in the United States, the Domin- 
ion of Canada, and Mexico, with a total 
membership of about 33,000. Its objects 
are to secure as members every active, com- 
petent machinist who has worked at his 
trade four years or more ; an effective plan 
to keep its members employed and the legal 
establishment of an apprenticeship system 
of four years; to induce employers to pay 
full current wages, and give preference, in 



NATIONAL FARMERS' ALLIANCE 



385 



hiring, to union men; to have all disputes 
between employer and employe settled by 
arbitration, "when possible," and to have 
a day's labor shortened to eight hours. Its 
monthly magazine contains trade news from 
the countries named, and articles on the 
construction of machinery and other topics 
of interest to the craft. Although its 
monthly dues are small, yet subordinate 
lodges pay sick and disability benefits, and 
display an activity at building up the fra- 
ternity which is more conspicuous than in 
some more pretentious organizations. Its 
emblem, like those of almost all other secret 
and non-secret trades unions, consists of 
some of the better known implements used 
by its members, the callipers and square in- 
terlaced upon a flywheel. The ritual, which 
is short, is based on the every-day shop life 
of machinists, and seeks to teach the strength 
and importance of friendship and justice as 
ennobling influences. The seventh conven- 
tion of the Association was held at Kansas 
City, in May, 1897, and included eighty- 
five delegates from various parts of the 
United States, Mexico, and Canada. The 
address of the Grand Master embraced the 
prohibiting of members working on more 
than one machine; opposition to blacklist- 
ing; the discouragement of the piece-work 
system; the restriction of cheap foreign 
labor; the introduction of civil service re- 
form in government machine shops, and the 
establishment of an eight-hour day. 

International Association of Work- 
ing-men. — An international secret society 
of workingmen, organized at London in 
1864 by Messrs. Tolain and Fribourg, two 
French delegates to the London Interna- 
tional Exposition of 1802, who were much 
impressed by the influence of English trades 
unions, and sought, by means of the new so- 
ciety, to form a secret, cooperative federa- 
tion of workingmen's unions throughout the 
world. The Association became popularly 
known as "the International," spread to 
various European countries, and in 1870 
to the LTnited States. Uriah S. Stephens, 
25 



the founder of the Order of Knights of La- 
bor at Philadelphia in 1869, is said to have 
been influenced to some extent in his lean- 
ings toward socialism by his acquaintance 
with Eccarius, one of the General Council 
of "'the International" in London. In 
1871-72 the Association fell under the in- 
fluence of the extreme socialists at Paris and 
elsewhere in Europe, which resulted in its 
disruption. Mention is made from time to 
time of the continued existence of " Inter- 
nationals " in the United States, but noth- 
ing in the nature of the original Interna- 
tional Association is known to exist here 
to-day. (See Order of Knights of Labor.) 

Knights of St. Crispin. — Founded in 
the United States as an international trade 
organization in 1869. The local unions 
were called lodges, and united in forming 
State and. provincial Grand Lodges, which 
sent representatives to the International 
Grand Lodge, the supreme authority. A 
separate branch composed of women was 
called the Daughters of St. Crispin. The 
order was strongest among the boot and 
shoe makers; in fact, became identified with 
them; bnt the crisis of 1873 brought its de- 
cline, and internal dissension within a few 
years led to its extinction. 

National Aid Degree. — The mutual 
assessment, beneficiary, or insurance de- 
partment of the National Farmers' Alli- 
ance. Its government is distinct from that 
of the Alliance, and membership in it is 
optional. 

National Fanners' Alliance. — Organ- 
ized by Milton George, James W.Wilson, and 
David Ward Wood of Chicago, and August 
Post of Moulton, la., at St. Louis, Mo., in 
1880, as a non-sectarian, political organiza- 
tion of farmers and their wives, to ''promote 
the interests of agriculture" and the agricul- 
turist. It closely parallels the Patrons of 
Husbandry, of which society it is an out- 
growth. (See the latter.) It differs in that 
it utilizes the machinery of a secret society 
to build up a political party. The Alliance 
was started as a non-secret organization, but 



386 



NATIONAL FARMERS' ALLIANCE 



found something was lacking. As many of 
its earlier members were drawn from the 
Patrons of Husbandry, it was easy to make 
optional with State and subordinate lodges 
the adoption of a secret ritual and method 
of initiation and so change the character of 
the organization. The ritual and initiatory 
ceremony of the Alliance are calculated to 
impress the candidate with the duties, 
rights, and privileges of the agriculturist 
and suggest their Order-of-Patrons-of-Hus- 
bandry origin. The principal emblem of 
the latter, the sheaf of wheat, is also used, 
in conjunction with the plough and the 
letters N. F. A., as the badge of Alliance 
membership. 

While the Patrons of Husbandry seek by 
inquiry, discussion, and study to fit them- 
selves to grapple intelligently with eco- 
nomic questions, within the organizations to 
which its members belong, the Alliance early 
constituted itself a political party. The 
society grew slowly for a few years, after 
which the energy and executive ability of 
the late L. L. Polk of North Carolina in 
organizing and extending it at the South 
gave it a prominence which its founders had 
hardly anticipated. Polk was its National 
President for several terms, during which 
he established the society's headquarters at 
Washington and published a paper in its 
interest. By 1887 it had a very large mem- 
bership, some claim as many as 240,000. 
It was strong at the South and West, and 
its leaders were not slow to perceive its util- 
ity as a price-making and political machine. 

The depression in the price of wheat be- 
tween 1890 and 1896, inclusive, intensified 
the financial stringency among farmers and 
was largely responsible for several attempts 
made to artificially force the price up. 
Whether or not the Alliance was solely re- 
sponsible for the method adopted is best 
known to those most concerned. All that 
the writer knows on this point is that the 
proprietor of a reputed Alliance publication 
circulated in the Northwestern spring wheat 
States is responsible for the assertion that 



the Alliance wheat growers, a list of whose 
names he claimed to possess, had solemnly 
bound themselves to hold back their wheat 
in order to advance its price. This was the 
first of the several attempts on the part of 
growers in recent years to put up the price 
of wheat in a similar way. The details were 
communicated and subsequent events made 
it plain that the effort was as sincere as it 
was fruitless. In 1896 evidence was pub- 
lished of what was called "a secret con- 
spiracy" among "340,000 farmers," in 
Minnesota and the two Dakotas, to corner 
wheat and force up prices. The circular 
sent out was dated at "Triple Alliance 
Headquarters, Minneapolis." It explained 
that over 90,000 farmers had taken a pledge 
to hold their wheat for $1 per bushel, and 
others were taking it "as rapidly as one 
hundred and thirty agents can administer 
oaths to them." In 1896, what was called 
the Agriculturists' National Protective As- 
sociation, an oath -bound organization of 
farmers of the central Western and other 
States, planned to put up prices of wheat 
by storing it in corporation warehouses, in 
order "to compel people to import their 
farm products." It is hardly necessary to 
add that none of these hold-your- wheat 
projects were successful. Buying for cash 
through Alliance agencies and selling to 
members at a slight advance had been the 
principal feature of the organization up to 
1887, but through mismanagement or for 
other reasons the project was abandoned. 

The insurance feature under the title Na- 
tional Aid Degree is still retained. (Seethe 
latter.) Merchants and professional men 
were not and never have been eligible to 
membership, and such of them, " even min- 
isters of the Gospel," as opposed the Alli- 
ance in any way, were frequently boycotted. 
At various times it practically controlled the 
legislatures of Tennessee, Arkansas, Mis- 
sissippi, Georgia, North and South Carolina, 
and such men as Northen of Georgia, Hogg 
of Texas, Tillman of South Carolina, and 
Buchanan of Tennessee became governors 



NATIONAL FARMERS' ALLIANCE 



387 



through its support. Various labor parties 
have vied in strength with the Alliance and 
with Patrons of Husbandry at the West and 
Northwest. Delegates from all of them 
came together at Cincinnati, May 16, 1888, 
looking to consolidation for political pur- 
poses, but being unable to agree, two con- 
ventions were held. The first, dominated 
by the agricultural element, was called the 
Union Labor party, and nominated Andrew 
J. Streator of Illinois for President, on a 
platform which favored government owner- 
ship of railroads, free silver, the issue of 
legal tender notes direct to the people, gov- 
ernment loans on land, postal savings-banks, 
and an income tax. The second, in which 
representatives of labor unions and railway 
employes predominated^ called itself the 
United Labor party, and nominated Robert 
II. Cowdrey of Illinois for President, on a 
platform favoring government ownership of 
railroads and telegraph lines, a direct tax 
on land, government ins]oection of work- 
shops, fewer hours of labor daily, and the 
Australian ballot system. The strength of 
the organized, political, agricultural interest 
is shown by Streafcor's receiving a total of 
146,836 votes. During these years the Alli- 
ance continued to increase in membership. 
At a meeting of the Kansas Alliance in 
March, 1890, a platform was adopted which 
is sufficiently characterized by its first plank : 
" "We demand legislative enactment appor- 
tioning the shrinkage of farm values that 
are under mortgage obligations by reason of 
contraction of circulating medium or other 
unjust legislation between the mortgagor 
and mortgagee, in proportion to their re- 
spective interests at time mortgage was 
drawn." Out of this and the remaining 
planks grew the principles with which the 
organization was identified in later years. 
The first national convention of the Alli- 
ance was held December, 1890, at Ocala, Fla., 
following a period when the growth of the 
society in the Central Mississippi River val- 
ley was marked. At political gatherings of 
the Alliance in the fall of that year the enthu- 



siasm rivalled that of the " hard-cider " cam- 
paign of 1840, one of the features being the 
singing of political songs with the refrain, 
"G-ood-by, my party, good-by," indicating 
that the singers had found new political 
principles and formed new party ties. Se- 
cret society machinery having political ends 
in view was still in full operation, and after 
the campaign, the East awoke to find that 
a third party, the Alliance, had secured con- 
trol of legislatures which were to elect sena- 
tors, had elected State officers and Congress- 
men in a number of States, and had carried 
off bodily the Dakotas, Kansas, and Ne- 
braska. It was at the Ocala convention that 
the Alliance approved what has since been 
known as " the Ocala platform/' which de- 
manded that the government establish ware- 
houses all over the country, and lend money 
to farmers on their crops to be stored in 
those warehouses. This step brought the 
more radical theorists throughout the coun- 
try into sympathy with the political move- 
ment which was even then not at its full 
height, and in this manner the way was 
paved by delegates from the Alliance and 
other societies for the organization of the 
National People's party at Omaha in 1892. 
The preamble to its platform read, in part, 
as follows: 

We meet .... a nation brought to the 
verge of moral, political, and material ruin. Cor- 
ruption dominates the ballot-box, the legislatures, 
the Congress, and touches even the ermine of the 
bench. The urban workmen are denied the right 
of organization for self-protection ; imported pau- 
perized labor beats down their wages ; a hireling 
standing army, unrecognized by our laws, is estab- 
lished to shoot them down. The fruits of the toil 
of the millions are boldly stolen to build up colossal 
fortunes for a few. A vast conspiracy against man- 
kind has been organized on two continents and it 
is rapidly taking possession of the world. 

Both the Eepublican and the Democratic 
parties were denounced, and an endorsement 
given the Alliance Sub-Treasury plan, the 
free coinage of silver at the ratio of 16 to 1, 
the increase of the circulating medium to 
850 per capita, an income tax, government 



388 



NATIONAL UNION OF IRON AND STEEL WORKERS 



ownership of railroads, telegraphs, and tele- 
phones, and the reclamation of land owned 
by aliens. James E. Weaver of Iowa was 
nominated for President and received 
1,042,531 votes, about one in every twelve 
cast, the largest total vote ever given to a 
third-party candidate. He received twenty- 
two electoral votes, those of Kansas, Colo- 
rado, Nevada, and Idaho, and one each in 
North Dakota and Oregon. 

The Alliance as a political secret society 
was well-nigh exhausted after giving birth 
to the People's party in 1892, but in 1895 
it still retained an organization and num- 
bered probably 100,000 members. At 
Chicago, January 24 and 25, 1893, it de- 
clared that " its methods are non-partisan," 
and that its object is merely " to secure 
unity of action, after full and intelligent dis- 
cussion, for the promotion of such reforms 
as may be necessary to the bettering of the 
farmer's condition." By 1897 little ap- 
peared to survive of the National Farmers' 
Alliance. But it had evidently done its 
work, for it was the National People's party, 
the offspring of the National Farmers' Alli- 
ance, the child of the Patrons of Husbandry, 
which secured control of the machinery of 
the National Democratic party in National 
Convention at Chicago in 1896, and polled 
6,502,685 votes for William J. Bryan, its 
candidate for President of the United States, 
out of a grand total of 13,923,643 votes. 

National Union of Iron and Steel 
Workers. — Formed at Pittsburg, Pa., 
October 29, 1892, by rollers, heaters, rough - 
ers, and catchers, members of four of the 
skilled crafts employed in the finishing de- 
partments of the rolling mills of that city. 
Nearly all of them had been members of the 
Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel 
Workers, but becoming dissatisfied, they 
organized a rival society on similar lines. 
The latter was formed "to maintain uni- 
formity of wages for work of the same kind 
throughout the United States," and soon 
spread to other Western Pennsylvania iron 
and steel centres; to Cleveland, Youngstown, 



and Massillon, O.; Muncie, Ind., and other 
points in the central Western States- It 
did not, however, become a serious rival to 
its parent, the Amalgamated Association. 
Its emblem is a hand holding the scales of 
justice, and its ritual teaches the importance 
of unity of action and that the laborer is 
worthy of his hire. The headquarters of 
the society are at Youngstown, O., a com- 
munication from which places the total 
membership at about 2,000. (See Amal- 
gamated Association of Iron and Steel 
Workers.) 

New Order of Builders. — Founded 
by William H. Von Swartworst, at New 
York city, September 29, 1879, on primi- 
tive socialistic lines. It drew inspiration 
from Rom. v. 18. : "By the righteousness 
of one the free gift came upon all men/' 
Membership carried with it membership in 
the New Commonwealth, Colombia, and 
proposed to regenerate society through the 
application of the principles of " the new 
political economy." By these, members, 
after performing public service six hours a 
day (five days a week, twenty days in a 
month, and ten months in a year) for 
twenty-nine years, or between the ages of 
twenty-one and fifty, are permitted the en- 
joyment of life, liberty, culture, and hap- 
piness thereafter "without money and 
without price." 

Noble and Holy Order of Knights of 
Labor of America. — One of the earlier 
titles of the Order of Knights of Labor. 
(See Order of Knights of Labor.) 

Noble Order of Knights of Labor of 
America. — Original title of the Order of 
Knights of Labor. (See Order of Knights 
of Labor.) 

Order of Commercial Telegraphers. 
— Formed in 1897, auxiliary to the Order 
of Bail way Telegraphers. (See the latter.) 

Order of Knights of Labor.*— The 

* For some of the particulars given, the writer is 
indebted to " An Historical Sketch of the Knights 
of Labor," by Carroll D. Wright, published in the 
Quarterly Journal of Economics, January, 1887 



ORDER OF KNIGHTS OF LABOR 



389 



most important and by far the largest se- 
cret society in the United States organized 
in the interest of industrial workers. It 
seeks to amalgamate all trades into one 
great fraternity for the amelioration of the 
material condition of the laborer, the me- 
chanic, and the artisan. In that it stands for 
the opposite of the trades union ; and, while 
it may not have been, it probably was sug- 
gested in part by the International Asso- 
ciation of Workingmen, better known as 
"the International," organized in London 
in 1864 by two French artisans who went 
there in 1862 to visit the International 
Exhibition and were impressed by the in- 
fluence of English labor unions. "The 
International" has been characterized as 
the principal instance of a labor organi- 
zation which sought to harmonize indi- 
vidual interests in the interest of the whole. 
For a time it grew rapidly, and by 1870 
had spread to the continent of Europe 
and to the United States, numbering nearly 
100,000 members. But by 1871 the French 
and other continental sections were so con- 
trolled by the radical socialists of Europe 
that the society went to pieces. 

The original, underlying idea of "the 
International " was given renewed life at 
Philadelphia, Pa., on Thanksgiving Day, 
1869, when Uriah S. Stephens founded the 
second great secret society in which all 
trades were to be recognized, the Noble 
Order of Knights of Labor of America. 
Mr. Stephens belonged to the Garment 
Cutters' Union of Philadelphia, an organi- 
zation which had proved unsatisfactory as 
a means to sustain the rate of wages, and 
had, for several years, planned a society to 
embrace "all branches of honorable toil," 
which, through education, cooperation, and 
an intelligent use of the ballot, " should 

(George II. Ellis, Boston) ; for others, to John W. 
Haves, General Secretary-Treasurer of the Order of 
Knights of Labor ; and to the sketch of Uriah S. 
Stephens, published in The People (the organ of 
the Socialist Labor party), New York, November 
11, 1894. 



gradually abolish the present wages sys- 
tem." He was born August 3, 1821, in 
Cape May County, New Jersey. His 
grandfather was killed fighting for the 
independence of the colonies in the War 
-of the Kevolution, but his mother's people 
were New Jersey Quakers. After a brief 
attendance at a Baptist theological semi- 
nary he was compelled by the business re- 
verses of 1836 to 1840 to learn a trade and 
engage in mercantile pursuits, after which 
he taught school. In 1845 he removed to 
Philadelphia. Between 1853 and 1858 he 
travelled in Mexico, California, Central 
America, the West Indies, England, Ger- 
many, and Belgium. In London he be- 
came intimate with the tailor Eccarius, 
who ten years later was a member of the 
General Council of "the International." 
On his return to Philadelphia he found 
the "labor question" still prominent, and 
endeavored, although unsuccessfully, to in- 
duce capitalists to make industrial invest- 
ments in South and Central America and 
other sparsely settled countries, in order 
to colonize surplus American labor. His 
efforts to secure Northern capital to build 
up manufacturing enterprises in the South- 
ern States and to relieve congested labor 
markets at the North, were likewise fruit- 
less, but they stamp him as a true prophet 
who was only one generation ahead of 
the march of events. In politics he was 
an abolitionist, and though he took the 
stump for Fremont, and again for Lincoln, 
he was never a seeker of public office. He 
was a prominent worker in the greenback 
movement twenty-five years ago, and is 
declared to have been responsible for the 
incorporation of the word labor in the 
name of the political party to which that 
movement gave birth. His unsuccessful 
candidacy for Congress, in 1878, was forced 
upon him by the Greenback Labor party. 
It was about ten years prior to his nomina- 
tion for Congress that his attention was 
particularly drawn to the need, on the part 
of labor, of something better than the mere 



390 



ORDER OF KNIGHTS OF LABOR 



trades union, and in 1867-68 he received 
considerable literature on sociological 
questions from his London acquaintance, 
Eccarius the tailor, who had since risen 
high in the councils of " the International," 
and among the works sent him was a copy 
of the communist manifesto by Marx and 
Engels. The increase of corporate enter- 
prises, the progress of cooperation, as 
shown in the growth of building and loan 
societies, together with the practically un- 
improved condition of labor, even with its 
system of trades unions, evidently made a 
strong impression upon him. The Gar- 
ment Cutters' Union, to which he belonged, 
finally disbanded late in 1869, and, on in- 
vitation, a few of its members met at his 
house, November 25 of that year, where 
he unfolded his plan of an organization to 
be known as " The Noble and Holy Order 
of the Knights of Labor." Except for the 
sentiment which underlaid it in common 
with " the International," the projected 
order was a new and radical departure. 
Stephens held, first, that surplus labor 
always keeps wages down, and, second, 
that nothing can remedy this evil but a 
purely and deeply secret organization, 
based upon a plan that shall teach, or 
rather inculcate, organization, and at the 
same time educate its membership to one 
set of ideas ultimately subversive of the 
present wage system. 

The six other Philadelphia garment cut- 
ters who met with Stephens to form a 
secret society were James L. Wright, Eob- 
ert C. Macauley, Joseph S. Kennedy, Will- 
iam Cook, Eobert W. Keene, and James 
M. Hilsee, and at a meeting held Decem- 
ber 28, 1869, obligations and a ritual 
were adopted and the title abbreviated to 
Knights of Labor. The society began as 
one of the most secret in character, mem- 
bers being bound not to mention its name 
outside of the assemblies. In circulars, 
reports, and in referring verbally to the 
Order, ***** r five stars were used. 
In the historical sketch of the Order, by 



Carroll D. Wright, he states: "Mr. Ste- 
phens brought into the ritual of the new 
Order many of the features of speculative 
Masonry, especially in the forms and cere- 
monies observed." In a sketch of the life 
of Stephens, published in 1894, it said : 
" Stephens drew up the secret work and 
constitution of the Order of the Knights of 
Labor. This was done in the external form 
of the secret societies of Freemasons, but 
upon the philoso]3hic principles of social- 
ism." Some of the accounts mention Will- 
iam H. Phillips and David Wescott among 
the original members, making nine instead 
of seven. The first to be admitted among 
them were William Fennimore and Henry 
L. Sinexon. The motto adopted was the one, 
now well known, " That is the most per- 
fect government in which an injury to one 
is the concern of all." An equilateral tri- 
angle within a circle was selected as the 
principal emblem, the meaning of which is 
confided to members only. Whether it 
conveys anything more than is taught in 
Freemasonry is not likely to be known 
except to Freemasons who are Knights of 
Labor. The design as a whole, the triangle 
within the circle, and "A. K. the 9th," 
the whole inscribed in a pentagon in a 
circle within a hexagon within another 
circle, resting upon an inverted five-pointed 
star, suggests excursions by the founders of 
the Order into the symbolism employed in 
some of the higher degrees of Scottish Rite 
Freemasonry. At the outset, physicians 
were not eligible as members, because pro- 
fessional confidence might force the so- 
ciety's secrets into unfriendly ears, but 
this rule was repealed in 1881. Profes- 
sional politicians were likewise excluded, 
but they are eligible now. Lawyers, liquor 
sellers, and professional gamblers were and 
still are denied the privilege of member- 
ship. The secrecy thrown about the Order 
at the beginning was so profound that its 
growth was slow, the total membership six 
months after it was founded being only 
forty-three, all garment cutters. It was 



ORDER OF KNIGHTS OF LABOR 



391 



not until October 20, 1870, that a member 
was elected from any other trade, after 
which progress was more rapid. 

When a member found a man who was 
considered worthy of admission, he ques- 
tioned him as to his opinions concerning the 
elevation of labor, and if his sentiments 
were found in accord with the objects of 
the Order, his name was brought before a 
meeting of the organization and a commit- 
tee was appointed to investigate his qualifi- 
cations. The member who proposed the 
candidate was not allowed to act on the 
committee. When the committee reported, 
the candidate was balloted for, and if re- 
jected no further mention was made of the 
matter to any one. The candidate was 
kept in ignorance of what had transpired, 
and the members, even those who had voted 
against his admission, would treat him with 
the same consideration in the workshop as 
before. If the candidate was elected, the 
friend who proposed him would on some 
pretext invite him to a meeting, a party 
6r ball, or a gathering of some kind, and 
manage to secure his presence at the regular 
meeting place of the assembly on the night 
of initiation, and when the candidate for 
the first time learned that he was to join a 
society, he was at the same time led to be- 
lieve that his friend had also been invited 
there for the same purpose, so that in case 
of failure to initiate, the elected one would 
not even then know that his friend was 
connected with the society. This method 
of securing members was kept up for several 
years, and is now practised by many of the 
assemblies. The reason for this was be- 
cause public associations had, after centuries 
of struggle, proved failures. It was also 
claimed that if the Order worked openly, so 
that its members might be known to the 
public, it would expose them to the scru- 
tiny, and in time to the wrath, of their em- 
ployers, so it was deemed best to work in 
such a way as to avoid comment and 
scrutiny. The troubles which were at that 
time attracting attention toward the coal- 



fields,* from which Philadelphia received 
its principal supply of fuel, also influenced 
the members of the new Order, because 
through open and public association the 
miners of the coal-fields had allowed des- 
perate men to gain admission to their so- 
cieties. The veil of secrecy was necessary, 
therefore, to shield members from perse- 
cution. 

Mr. Stephens and his co-laborers sought 
to uphold the dignity of labor. Every 
lawful and honorable means was to be 
resorted to, to procure and retain em- 
ployment for one another, and it mattered 
not to what country, color, or creed the 
member belonged, if misfortune befell him 
he was to receive the aid and comfort of his 
fellow members. Strikes were discounte- 
nanced, but when it became justly necessary 
to make use of that weapon it was intended 
to aid such members as might suffer loss ; 
in short, it was the intention to extend a 
helping hand to every branch of trade 
which made a part of the vast industrial 
forces of the country. The members were 
not taught that idleness was to be respected 
in any one, and the newly initiated soon 
realized that those who surrounded him 
were not there to spend their time in idle 
amusement. It was not until Jul}*, 1872, 
that Assembly Xo. 2 was organized, but 
in 1873 over eighty assemblies of various 
trades and occupations had been formed. 
In 1873 the Order spread rapidly in Phila- 
delphia, no less than twenty local assem- 
blies being formed with representatives of 
as many lines of trade. It spread to Xew 
York a year later, where local Assembly 
Xo. 28 was organized by the goldbeaters. 
By 1875 fifty-two local assemblies had 
been formed in Philadelphia, with 252 
scattered throughout the mining regions of 
Pennsylvania, in West Virginia, Indiana, 
imd Illinois. The first District Assembly 
was formally established at Philadelphia, 
December 25, 1873, but the Order had no 

* See Molly Maguires. 



392 



ORDER OF KNIGHTS OF LABOR 



expressed declaration of principles or pre- 
amble beyond those referred to until Janu- 
ary, 1878, when delegates from the scattered 
assemblies met in general convention at 
Reading, Pa., and organized the General 
Assembly, or national governing body, to 
which District Assemblies, formed of rep- 
resentatives of local assemblies, were sub- 
ordinate. Mr. Stephens, the founder of 
the Order, was the first Master Workman of 
local Assembly No. 1 ; first District Mas- 
ter Workman of District Assembly No. 1, 
aud first Grand Master Workman of the 
General Assembly. 

At the Reading Convention seventeen 
trades were represented from seven States, 
and among the delegates was Terence V. 
Powderly, afterwards Grand Master Work- 
man of the Order. Up to this period, 
for nine years, the strictest secrecy had 
been maintained respecting the Order, its 
name, membership, and purposes, which, 
as claimed, tended to restrict its growth. 
This seems, in part, well founded, for 
despite exaggerated reports at the time, the 
total membership was probably not in ex- 
cess of 10,000. It was not until 1883 that 
so many as 50,000 were enrolled. During 
1877-78, two factions appeared, one headed 
by Stephens, desirous of maintaining the 
extremely secret character of the Order, 
with its solemn oaths or obligations taken 
on the Bible, and the other made up of the 
Eoman Catholic members and the influence 
of that Church against secret societies in 
general, and, at that time, the Knights of 
Labor. At a special session of the General 
Assembly, June, 1878, resolutions to make 
public the name of the 'Order, omit from 
the ritual scriptural quotations, and modify 
the initiatory ceremonies " so as to remove 
the opposition coming from the Church/' 
were submitted to the vote of the local and 
District Assemblies, and through the influ- 
ence of these some of the changes referred 
to were made, so that the prejudice against 
the Knights of Labor on account of Catho- 
lic opposition gradually disappeared. The 



Order then took on new strength, until, in 
1879, there were twenty-three District As- 
semblies and about 1,300 local assemblies 
in the United States. 

The action of the Order in nominally 
removing the veil of secrecy from much 
that had been hidden was a great blow to 
Stephens. He fought the change, and suc- 
ceeded in delaying it for a time. In Jan- 
uary, 1879, he was reelected Grand Master 
Workman, but unable to overcome the pres- 
sure in favor of the new plan, he resigned 
his office, and was succeeded in September, 
1879, by T. V. Powderly. Mr. Stephens 
remained an active member of his local 
assembly until his death, due to heart fail- 
ure, in 1882. His memory is revered by 
all Knights of Labor, and at the conven- 
tion of the Order at Richmond, in 1886, 
$10,000 was appropriated for the erection 
of a home for his family. Official reports 
of the growth of the Order placed the total 
membership at 52,000 in 1883, 71,000 in 
1884, 111,000 in 1885, and 711,000 in 1886, 
a remarkable increase. In 1881 women were 
made eligible to membership, and many 
have availed themselves of the privilege. 
There had been 14,000 local assemblies 
chartered by January 1, 1897, 18 State As- 
semblies, 21 national or local trade Dis- 
trict Assemblies, 260 District Assemblies, 
and one National Assembly, that in New 
Zealand. The Order may well be described 
as international in scope, as assemblies 
have also been established in Great Britain 
and France, where there were reported to be 
100,000 members in 1896 ; Belgium, Aus- 
tralia, South Africa, and Hawaii. It favors 
the initiative and referendum in the enact- 
ment of laws ; the establishment of bureaus 
of labor statistics ; making " gambling in 
the necessaries of life " a felony ; the abro- 
gation of laws that do not bear equally on 
capital and labor ; the adoption of laws 
providing for the health and safety of those 
engaged in mining, manufacturing, and 
building industries ; and indemnification 
for injury received through lack of neces- 



ORDER OF KNIGHTS OF LABOR 



393 



sary safeguards ; compelling corporations 
to pay their employes weekly in lawful 
money ; the enactment of laws providing 
for arbitration between employers and em- 
ployes ; the prohibition of the employment 
of children under fifteen years of age ; com- 
pulsory education, and the furnishing of 
free text books at the expense of the State ; 
a graduated tax on incomes and inherit- 
ances ; the prohibition of the hiring of con- 
vict labor ; the establishment of a national 
monetary system, in which a circulating 
medium in necessary quantity shall issue 
directly to the people, without the inter- 
vention of banks ; a law that the national 
issue shall be full legal tender in payment 
of all debts, public and private ; that the 
government shall not guarantee or rec- 
ognize any private banks, or create any 
banking corporations ; that interest-bear- 
ing bonds, bills of credit, or notes shall 
never be issued by the government, but 
that, when need arises, the emergency shall 
be met by issue of legal-tender, non-inter- 
est-bearing money ; the prohibition of the 
importation of foreign labor under con- 
tract ; the establishment of postal savings 
banks, and compelling all other banks to 
give approved security in twice the amount 
of all deposits received by them ; govern- 
ment control of the transportation of pas- 
sengers, intelligence, and freight ; the 
establishment of cooperative institutions 
wherever possible to supersede the wage 
system and equal rights for both sexes. 

Foreign jurisdictions have the right to so 
amend the preamble of the Order "as to 
them may seem most likely to secure the 
just demands of labor in their respective 
countries, " subject to the approval of the 
General Assembly or the General Executive 
Board. No regard is paid by the Knights 
to sex, color, creed, or nationality in its 
requirements for membership, beyond the 
fact that a candidate must be eighteen 
years of age. Dues are regulated by local 
assemblies. An entrance fee and a monthly 
rate are charged, besides a per capita 



assessment of two cents per month for the 
General Assembly. Local assemblies can 
proclaim a boycott of men or of goods in 
their own districts. A strike may be or- 
dered by a local assembly, but to draw 
support from the Order outside the region 
of the local assembly, the strike must be 
legalized by the District Assembly, and in 
case further aid is necessary, a general as- 
sessment may be ordered by the General 
Assembly. 

There have been several schisms in the 
Order, none of which has survived or ex- 
ercised any appreciable influence on the 
parent society. In 1883 trouble in the 
organization at Baltimore led to the forma- 
tion of the Improved Order of Advanced 
Knights of Labor, w r hich lasted long enough 
to formulate a ritual. Soon after, a split 
at Binghamton resulted in another Order, 
called Independent Knights of Labor, 
which died in the spring of 1884. In 1887 
a Provisional Order was started by members 
of the International Workingmen's Associa- 
tion, and that was followed by the Brother- 
hood of United Labor. But the most 
formidable secession was that at Columbus, 
0., in February, 1895, which resulted in 
the formation of the Independent Order of 
the Knights of Labor by William B. Wilson 
of Pennsylvania, a miner; Charles E.Martin, 
who was a candidate for Secretary of State 
in Ohio, on the Populist ticket in 1894, and 
others,with an alleged membership of 20,000 
glass workers, brass workers and coal miners. 
As an excuse for this action the founders 
of the Independent Order charged arbitrary 
management by the officers of the General 
Assembly, Knights of Labor and misman- 
agement of the finances. One difference 
between the constitution of the old and the 
new Knights was that, whereas the Com- 
mittee on Credentials is appointed by the 
general officers sixty days before the annual 
convention in the old Order, in the new 
this committee was to be elected by the 
delegates at the convention. The new 
Order also made a change in the method of 



394 



ORDER OF RAILWAY CONDUCTORS OF AMERICA 



voting, adopting the American Federation 
of Labor plan, by which each 1,000 mem- 
bers of any organized trade are entitled to 
one delegate. After a colorless existence of 
two years this organization was absorbed by 
the Knights of Labor. 

The American Federation of Labor is a 
non-secret confederation of trades unions, 
of which Grand Master Workman Sovereign 
of the Knights of Labor declared in 1896 
that it had proved too loose in its organized 
capacity and too weak in its test of mem- 
bership to resist the onslaughts of capital. 
For a while the Independent Order of the 
Knights of Labor appeared likely to disrupt 
the older organization, but it did not, and 
gradually disappeared from public view. Mr. 
Powderly was succeeded as Grand Master 
Workman in 1893 by James E. Sovereign, 
who identified the Knights with the fight 
for the free coinage of silver in the presi- 
dential campaign of 1896. He also signal- 
ized his accession to office by advocating an 
entirely new secret work for the Order, 
"with stronger obligations," a degree 
known as the i( Minute Men," and, as far as 
possible, " a return to our former system of 
working in absolute secrecy." In this he 
sought to reverse the policy which ushered 
in and maintained Mr. Powderly in office 
for fourteen years, and signalized a tendency 
to return to the position of the founder of 
the Order. These points lend color to the 
charge that the members of the New York 
city secret society, The Triangle, have 
greater influence among the Knights than 
they had a few years ago. The Triangle is 
the name of an extremely secret organiza- 
tion of New York city socialists, members 
of the Knights. The latter, as may be in- 
ferred, represent the Stephens side of the 
dissension in the Order in 1878-1879 which 
resulted in Powderly's election after the 
founder of the Order had resigned as Grand 
Master Workman. That they favor a 
closely guarded secret organization goes 
without saying. They stand for the triumph 
of socialism and are prominent in the 



Socialistic Labor Party in New York city. 
(See The Triangle. ) The Order of Knights 
of Labor's largest total membership is stated 
by General Secretary-Treasurer John W. 
Hayes to have been 729,677, in July, 1886. 
In June, 1894, the total was 235,000, and 
early in 1897 it was about 175,000. 

Order of Railway Conductors of 
America. — A secret trades union founded 
by James . Packard and William Wier of 
Amboy, 111., and E. A. Sadd of Chicago, in 
1868. It pays total disability and death ben- 
efits. Beneficiary membership is obligatory, 
and the Order has paid more than $2,000,- 
000 to relatives of deceased members. More 
than 20,000 conductors on railwa}^s in the 
United States, Mexico, and the Canadian 
Dominion belong to this Order, which in its 
ceremonials and ritual suggests Masonic in- 
fluence. Local bodies pay sick benefits, and 
the Order at large is assessed to meet death 
benefits, which range from $1,000 to $5,000. 
(The Ladies' Auxiliary of the Order of 
Railway Conductors is separately organized^ 
The organization of the Conductors' Order 
was naturally suggested by the Brotherhood 
of Locomotive Engineers formed five years 
before, in 1863. The only serious check to 
the growth of the Order was in 1894 and 
1895, which has since been overcome. Its 
chief emblem is characteristic of the em- 
ployment of the members, and to the stu- 
dent of secret societies is sufficiently sug- 
gestive. (See Brotherhood of Locomotive 
Engineers and the American Railway 
Union.) In July, 1897, a coalition was 
formed between the conductors, engineers, 
firemen, trainmen, and telegraphers, for 
the protection of joint interests. 

Order of Railway Telegraphers. — 
Eormed by twelve railway telegraph oper- 
ators at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in 1886, nom- 
inally with weekly sick and disability ben- 
efit features. It became a secret trades 
union. In earlier days its power to enforce 
its demands or position was relatively 
greater than of late years, owing to the enor- 
mous increase in the number of available 



ORDER OF PATRONS OF HUSBANDRY 



395 



operators throughout the country. In 
a number of struggles with railway and 
telegraph companies the Order was success- 
ful, but the comparative ease with which 
non-union operators may be secured had 
much to do with the decline of the Order. 
In 1895 its membership did not exceed 
2,500, although it had been more than four 
times that total. It was organized three 
years after the Brotherhood of Eailway 
Trainmen appeared, and may be classed 
among the various railway brotherhoods 
and orders with which it has cooperated. 
The American Railway Union claimed to 
have secured many railway telegraphers in 
its efforts to federate railway employes in 
one imposing secret organization, but no 
statistics are given of the number en- 
rolled. 

The telegraphers' Order took on a new 
lease of ltfe early in 1896 and has grown 
rapidly ever since, numbering about 12,000 
at the time of the Peoria convention in 
1897. An auxiliary body was organized 
at the Peoria convention to be known as 
the Order of Commercial Telegraphers, the 
object of which is to unite in one body 
telegraphers of the Western Union and 
the Postal Telegraph companies. The new 
Order is to be managed by the Order of 
Railway Telegraphers until 3,000 members 
have been secured, when the former is to 
take charge of its own affairs. A peculiarity 
of the new Order is that it is to have no 
subordinate lodges. A ladies' auxiliary 
of the Order of Railway Telegraphers was 
also an outcome of the Peoria meeting, 
which will seek to parallel the work done 
for other railway orders by women relatives 
of members of the same. 

In July, 1897, the telegraphers entered 
into an alliance with the railway engineers, 
firemen, conductors, and similar orders. 

Order of the Grand Orient. — Recently 
constructed from existing rites to teach the 
true fraternity and equality of all men, ele- 
vate them socially, and "to germinate 
thought and gather reason for symbolism." 



Records at hand state that it is conferred 
" in nearly all large cities." 

Order of the Mystic Brotherhood. — 

A secret, oath-bound body of Kansas voters, 
who declare that the prohibition laws of 
that State do not prohibit, and demand that 
the liquor clause in the State Constitution 
be re-submitted to the people. It is an out- 
growth of the old Anti-prohibition League, 
formed in 1882, "to secure the election of 
a re-submission governor ; was organized in 
1894, and seeks to secure the election of the 
necessary number of State legislators to re- 
submit the prohibitory statutes. Its leaders 
claimed 80,000 members in 1896. In form 
it is a regular secret society with an initiatory 
ceremony, signs, symbols, obligations, etc., 
and among its leaders are found prominent 
members of the Republican, Democratic, 
and Populist parties. 

Order of Patrons of Husbandry. — 
The National Grange or governing body of 
this Order was founded December 4, 1867, 
by O. II. Kelley, a Freemason, and William 
Saunders of the Agricultural Bureau at 
Washington, John R. Thompson, John 
Trimble, F. M. McDowell, William M. Ire- 
land, and Rev. A. B. Grosch of that Bureau 
and of the Treasury and Post Office Depart- 
ments, and Caroline A. Hall of Boston, a 
niece of Mr. Kelley, exclusively for men and 
women representatives of the agricultural 
population. It opposes the "single tax" 
theory; seeks to bring producers and con- 
sumers into direct and friendly relations; to 
eliminate, so far as possible, the m ddleman; 
to encourage and increase cheap transporta- 
tion; opposes excessive rates of interest and 
exorbitant profits; favors agricultural and 
industrial colleges and all the arts that adorn 
the home, and prohibits the discussion of 
sectarian and partisan questions at meetings. 
While purely a farmers' institution, it is an 
agricultural brotherhood which " recognizes 
no North, no South, no East, no West." 
Professional men, artisans, laborers, mer- 
chants, and manufacturers are excluded, 
"because they have not sufficient direct 



396 



ORDER OF PATRONS OF HUSBANDRY 



interest in tilling the soil, or may have some 
interest in conflict with our purposes," yet 
it hails ' ' the general desire for fraternal 
harmony, equitable compromise, and earnest 
cooperation." Among specified objects are 
"to buy less and produce more;" "to di- 
versify our crops and crop no more than we 
can cultivate;" "to condense the weight 
of our exports, selling less in the bushel and 
more on hoof and in fleece," "less in lint 
and more in warp and woof;" "to dis- 
countenance the credit" and "every other 
system tending to bankruptcy," and "to 
avoid litigation" by "arbitration in the 
Grange. " In an account of the twenty-fifth 
anniversary of the organization of the " first 
Grange in the world," that established at 
Fredonia, Chautauqua County, N". Y., April 
20 and 21, 1868, appears the following ex- 
planation of the inspiration of the secret 
work of the Order: 

The Order of Free and Accepted Masons is the 
surviving result of organization among artisan 
laborers, entered into first at the building of Solo- 
mon's Temple and the pyramids centuries ago. 
Agricultural labor has been unorganized through 
all the ages and in consequence has been kept under 
foot at the mercy of the trades and professions, 
dishonored and despised, as the slaveholder despises 
the slave, from the very fact that he will permit 
himself to remain a slave. . . . The Order of 
Patrons of Husbandry . . . was the first at- 
tempt to introduce the benefits of thorough organi- 
zation among agricultural laborers along the same 
lines that have made the Masonic Order so wide- 
spread and powerful for many centuries of the 
world's history. 

After the close of the Civil War, after 
Grant had said of the Confederate soldiers, 
" Let these men keep their horses; they will 
need them to put in their crops," President 
Johnson, through the Commissioner of Agri- 
culture, sent a representative South among 
the farmers and planters to see what could 
be done to plac^ that section agriculturally 
on its feet. The man selected for this mis- 
sion was 0. H. Kelley, of Boston birth and 
American ancestry, who went to Minnesota 
to farm in 1849. He went South in 1866, 
and during the several months spent there 



became impressed with the importance of 
organization among the farmers, something 
"above and beyond sectional and party 
lines," or, as he put it, something that 
would unite by the ' ' strong ties of agricul- 
ture." From this official trip came the 
suggestion of the Grange, which has done 
much for a higher education, enlarging so- 
cial life, and enhancing material prosperity 
in the agricultural community. On his re- 
turn to Washington, Mr. Kelley unfolded 
his plan to William Saunders, who was at 
the head of the government experiment gar- 
dens and grounds, and to others named, by 
whom it was warmly welcomed. It was 
Miss Hall, among the founders, who pro- 
posed the admission of women and that 
they be entitled to the same rights and privi- 
leges as the men, thus making the Patrons 
of Husbandry "the first organization of its 
kind to admit women to full membership." 
Among the founders, Messrs. McDowell, for 
twenty years treasurer of the National 
Grange; Thompson, author of much of the 
ceremonial and degree work, and Ireland 
and Grosch are dead. After the establish- 
ment of the first Grange at Fredonia, N. Y., 
in 1868, the work of building up the Order 
was slow. The first State Grange was 
formed in Minnesota a year later, and two 
years afterward the State Grange of Iowa 
was organized. Only 10 dispensations for 
granges were granted in 1868, 36 in the sec- 
ond year, and 134 in the third, but at the 
end of 1872 there were 1,005 granges. 
During 1873, 1874, and 1875, when the 
effects of the panic were felt, the movement 
was at its height and the farming commu- 
nity fairly flocked into the Order. In the 
first quarter of 1874 there were 6,000 new 
granges established, and on two particular 
days 330 applications for dispensations were 
received. More than 13,000 granges were 
organized in 1873. Some of the Southern 
granges fell away during the "Granger" 
excitement of from 1873 to 1877, became 
local in character, and with changes in work 
and ritual became known as the Agricultural 



ORDER OF PATRONS OF HUSBANDRY 



397 



Wheel. In 1880 the Farmers' Alliance was 
born, a secret political organization of 
farmers and planters, which swallowed the 
Agricultural Wheel and drew heavily upon 
more restless spirits among the Patrons of 
Husbandry. It was a child of the Grange, 
being the natural overflow of impatience 
and impetuousness which had been dammed 
up among the husbandmen who had en- 
listed in an army of peace and education. 
Notwithstanding these diversions the Pat- 
rons of Husbandry continued to grow, at 
one time extending to thirty-five States, the 
Dominion of Canada, England, France, 
Germany, and Australia. Its grand total 
membership in this country in 1896 was 
162,000, and there were no Granges 
abroad, except in the Dominion of Canada. 
Since its organization more than 27,000 
Granges have been instituted and more 
than 1,200,000 members initiated. When' 
its membership was largest, the Order at- 
tempted several methods of materially aid- 
ing its members, among them cooperative 
projects, the owning of elevators and steam- 
boats, and the establishment of mammoth 
"buying and selling agencies, all of which 
proved conspicuous failures. But success- 
ful efforts have been made at cooperation 
in fire insurance and in buying supplies in 
quantities from first hands, particularly by 
State Granges in Texas, New York, New 
Jersey, and New England. The Order, like 
Scottish Kite Freemasonry, is governed from 
the top, the National Grange, as stated, 
having been the first body organized. The 
use of the word " Granger,'' as synonymous 
with "countryman" (see Standard Dic- 
tionary), is the outgrowth of indiscrimi- 
nate reference to farmers as grangers by the 
newspaper press between 1873 and 1880. 
At that period "the farmer was," as the 
"Nation" said, "the spoiled child of poli- 
tics," and the most conspicuous farmers' 
organization was the Order of Patrons of 
Husbandry, the governing body of which 
was called the National Grange. State or- 
ganizations were controlled by State Granges, 



while subordinate bodies, corresponding to 
lodges, were called granges, and members 
thereof, grangers. It is a matter of easy 
recollection that for years following the war 
enormous sums of money were spent and 
empires of prairie land given away in ex- 
tending, developing, and paralleling railway 
systems to meet the wants of the rapidly in- 
creasing population in Western and North- 
western States; that railway building was 
pushed beyond immediate requirements, and 
that the panic of 1873 and succeeding years 
of trade depression found railroad compa- 
nies as well as the farming population seri- 
ously in debt, with declining demand, greatly 
reduced prices, and relatively smaller reduc- 
tions in transportation rates. Compara- 
tively high rates for carrying farm products 
to market, or what appeared to the farmer 
to be such, together with the ownership of 
the roads being at the East, where the shares 
of most of them were favorites with specu- 
lators, lent color to the then rapidly growing 
opinion that the interest of the railway com- 
pany was opposed to that of the agricultur- 
ist. Out of this state of affairs arose what 
was called the " granger movement," in 
which the Patrons of Husbandry as such 
did not take part, and for which the Order 
is not to be held responsible or given credit. 
The declaration of principles by the Na- 
tional Grange repeatedly announced that 
the organization was not an enemy of the 
railroads, and where, in a few instances, in- 
dividual granges took part in political move- 
ments looking to the coercion of railway 
companies, establishing rates of transporta- 
tion, etc., they were disciplined for it and 
their action disavowed by the Order. This 
was the period in which the " granger move- 
ment"* resulted in " granger legislation " 
and granger cases which attracted the 
attention of the entire country and sent the 
average politician scurrying to the beck and 

* For an outline of the "granger movement" 
and its results see papers by Charles W. Pierson in 
the Popular Science Monthly for December, 1887, 
and January, 1888. 



398 



ORDER OF PATRONS OF HUSBANDRY 



call of a farmer constituency. Pierson re- 
lates that: 

In those days lawyers, doctors, and merchants 
discovered in themselves a marvelous interest in 
agricultural pursuits and joined the grange. As a 
granger remarked, they were interested in agricul- 
ture as the hawk is interested in the sparrow. 
Two granges were organized in New York city ; 
one, the " Manhattan," on Broadway, with a mem- 
bership of forty-five wholesale dealers, sewing- 
machine manufacturers, etc., representing a capital 
of as many millions; the other, the "Knicker- 
bocker," one of whose first official acts was to present 
the National Grange with a handsome copy of the 
Scriptures — a gift causing some embarrassment. A 
similar one was organized in Boston, which made 
great trouble before it could be expelled, and one 
was founded in Jersey City, with a general of the 
army as its master, a stone mason as secretary, and 
the owner of a grain elevator as its chaplain. 

The growth of "the Grange" in 1873, 
1874, and 1875, as already indicated, was 
unprecedented, extending to every State in 
the Union except Ehode Island. Although 
it numbered about 880,000 members, yet 
as an organization it kept out of politics. 
Many of its members, as representatives 
of the thousands of farmers' clubs which 
dotted the West, were, no doubt, active in 
the fight against the railroads and news- 
papers, seeing only one great national or- 
ganization of farmers, naturally insisted on 
calling the uprising a " granger movement;" 
the anti-railway laws, "granger legisla- 
tion," and legal appeals on questions of 
constitutionality of some of the laws, " gran- 
ger cases." From this state of affairs it 
was but a step for the casual chronicler to 
classify all Western farmers as "grangers," 
and the word, with that meaning, has 
thus secured a place in the language from 
which it is not likely to be dislodged. 

The ritual of the Order is of an elabo- 
rate and impressive character. Four degrees 
are conferred in subordinate granges. 
In the first the man and woman noviti- 
ates typify, respectively, Labor and Maid; 
iu the second, Cultivator and Shepherd- 
ess; in the third, Harvester and Gleaner, and 
in the fourth, Husbandman and Matron. 



District or County Granges are established 
in the fifth, or Pomona degree, w r hich have 
charge of the education and business inter- 
ests of the Order. They are composed of 
Masters and Past Masters of subordinate 
granges ; their wives, who are Matrons, and 
other fourth degree members who may be rec- . 
ommended by subordinate granges. State 
Granges confer the fifth, or Pomona degree 
: — that of Faith — and consist of Masters and 
Past Masters of subordinate granges ; their 
wives, who are Matrons, and fourth degree 
members who shall be elected representa- 
tives. State Granges may also confer the 
sixth, or Flora degree — that of Hope — on 
members who have attained the degree of 
Pomona. The National Grange works in 
the sixth degree, and is composed of Masters 
and Past Masters of State Granges and their 
wives who have taken the Pomona degree 
and the members of the Executive Commit- 
tee of the National Grange. The seventh 
degree, Ceres — or that of Charity — is con-' 
ferred in the National Grange, and carries 
with it honorary membership in that body. 
This degree "has charge of the secret work 
of the Order," and is the court of impeach- 
ment of officers of the National Grange. 
" The ancients worshipped Ceres, the god- 
dess of agriculture," says the Grange man- 
ual, "but we, in a more enlightened age, 
give her the honored position, ... to show 
our respect for women." The seventh, or 
highest degree, represents the Ceres of to- 
day, the mother surrounded by her family 
on a modern farm in contrast with the an- 
cient goddess. The mysteries performed in 
the ancient temple erected in honor of Ceres 
are confronted in this degree with the work 
and civilizing influences of modern farm- 
ing implements, railroads, telegraphs, tele- 
phones, factories, churches, grange halls, 
and schoolhouses. Typifying the products 
of the farm, Pomona, Flora, and Ceres find 
prominent places in the ritual. The princi- 
pal emblem, the sheaf of wheat, is described 
as " many grains to each ear and all the ears 
united in one sheaf by a common band;" 



SWITCHMEN'S UNION OF NORTH AMERICA 



399 



this, typical of the Order itself, requires no 
explanation. The seal of the society is a 
heptagon containing the names of the seven 
founders, a wreath of myrtle, and a mono- 
gram made of the letters K and 0, said to 
be " familiar to all " who have received the 
degree of Ceres. The color of the fourth 
degree is blue; of the fifth, Pomona, green; 
of the sixth, Flora, pink, and of the sev- 
enth, Ceres, corn-color. Among the re- 
galia and emblems of the Order are found 
the pouch and sash and the spade, pruning 
hook and shepherd's crook. In an address 
a few years ago at Rochester, Vt., the Grand 
Lecturer of the Order declared that twelve 
years previously farmers, as a rule, had com- 
paratively little knowledge of the great 
economic questions involving immigration, 
transportation, finance, and the tariff, and 
that it had been by discussion and study of 
the problems that the Order had been able 
to act with wisdom in their settlement; 
and, he added, it is through the direct in- 
fluence of the Grange that the farmer has 
been invading legislative halls to grapple 
with questions of pure food, good roads, edu- 
cation, cooperation, and corporate fran- 
chise. 

./Patrons of Industry. — Organized by the 
Rev. F. W. Vertican, D. W. Campbell, 
F. H. Krause, and others, at Port Huron, 
Mich., in the spring of 1885, as a secret, 
social, and educational organization for men 
and womem/ It draws its membership 
largely from the agricultural community, 
and though dormant in many States, is alive 
in Michigan and in Canada, with a total 
membership of about 50,000. At one time 
it had quite a vogue, but, having fallen into 
the hands of office-seekers and others, its 
usefulness was restricted. It is largely in- 
terested to-day in discussing economic ques- 
tions and practically in experimenting with 
cooperation, in which respect it parallels in 
some ways the active work of the Patrons 
of Husbandry, with which, however, it has 
no connection. The headquarters of the 
organization remain where it was founded. 



In 1896 it favored international bimetallism, 
protection against imported farm produce 
and stock, encouragement of the sugar in- 
dustry, more stringent laws against hog but- 
ter and all adulterations, and retaliation 
against nations that unjustly discriminate 
against American meats and other produce. 

Provisional Order, Knights of Labor. 
— One among five secessions from the Order 
of the Knights of Labor. It is stated that 
surviving members of "the International" 
were prominent in instigating this schism. 
It was organized in 1887, but soon disap- 
peared. (See Order of Knights of Labor.) 

Sovereigns of Industry. — Extinct. 
(See Patrons of Industry.) 

Switchmen's Mutual Aid Association. 
— A secret society among switchmen at the 
more important railway centres, organized 
in 1886, three years after the founding of 
the Brotherhood of Railway Trainmen. It 
paid death as well as sick and disability bene- 
fits, and was quite successful until July, 
1894, when it was discovered that the chief 
fiduciary officer of the society was short in 
his accounts to a large amount. The im- 
mediate effect of this was to disband the 
Association. Three months later it was re- 
vived as the Switchmen's Union of North 
America formed at Kansas City. (Seethe 
latter.) 

Switchmen's Union of North Amer- 
ica. — Successor to the Switchmen's Mutual 
Aid Association, which was organized in 
1880, and went to pieces in July, 1894. 
The latter was a secret, mutual assessment, 
beneficiary trades union. The immediate 
cause of its dissolution is said to have been 
a shortage in the accounts of the Grand Sec- 
retary and Treasurer. Three months later 
the Switchmen's Union of North America 
was organized by D. D. Sweeny of Jersey 
City, who became Grand Master; John 
Dougherty, Kansas City, who was made 
Grand Secretary and Treasurer ; M. E. 
Conlin, Kansas City, and others. It pays no 
death benefits. Lodges have the option of 
arranging to pay sick and disability benefits 






400 



THE BROTHERHOOD 



or not, as they choose. Founders of the 
Switchmen's Union were members of the 
Knights of Pythias, Ancient Order of 
United Workmen, and the Order of United 
Friends, but there is no resemblance be- 
tween it and any of the latter. The total 
membership is about 5,000. No particular 
point is made as to ritual or ceremonies, the 
object of the organization being to encour- 
age benevolence, hope, and protection and 
to furnish a means of cooperation and mu- 
tual assistance. The Switchmen first or- 
ganized in secret assembly in 1886, three 
years after the formation of the Brotherhood 
of Railway Trainmen. (See Brotherhood of 
Locomotive Engineers, the American Rail- 
way Union, and the Switchmen's Mutual 
Aid Association.) 

The Brotherhood. — The title applied 
by members of the non-secret International 
Typographical Union to the secret organi- 
zation, or "brotherhood," composed exclu- 
sively of members of the Typographical 
Union. The Brotherhood is a fraternity of 
compositors, a secret trades union modelled 
after the fraternity of Freemasons, designed 
to relieve brethren in sickness and distress, 
and provide work for those in need of it. 
Particulars concerning it are difficult to ob- 
tain, as its very existence is kept more or 
less secret by members. The fact that mem- 
bers are drawn from the International Typo- 
graphical Union has, from time to time, 
excited the jealousy or opposition of the 
latter, owing to a fear that the secret society 
might seek to control its offices and shape 
its policy. A few years ago it was reported 
that the Brotherhood was dead, but it was 
evidently only dormant, for at a meeting of 
the International Typographical Union at 
Colorado Springs, Colo., in 189G, a New 
York city delegate declared that "he had 
positive proof" that there was in existence 
in the Union a secret body known as the 
" Wanetas," which was "the old Brother- 
hood revived." This announcement was 
deemed of so much importance that a reso- 
lution was adopted requiring every delegate 



"and ex-delegate" present to take "an 
iron-clad oath" that "from that time 
forth " he would not belong to any body 
which sought to control the legislation of 
the Union, and that he would use all his 
power to break up any such league. All 
the delegates and ex-delegates present took 
that oath and then enacted the requirement 
into a law applying to members of the Union. 
The Brotherhood, or the " Wanetas," is, like 
the Triangle Club, composed of Knights of 
Labor, in that it is a secret society within 
another organization ; but it differs in that its 
members are or have been found in all parts 
of the country, that it draws its members from 
a non-secret society, and that it is not known 
to be established to dictate the policy of an- 
other society. On the contrary, it is pre- 
sumed to be a purely charitable and bene- 
ficiary organization, members of which have 
secret methods of making themselves known 
to each other. The National Typographical 
Union dates back to 1850, but permanent 
organization was effected at Cincinnati in 
1852. The name was changed to Inter- 
national Typographical Union at Albany, 
N. Y., in 1869, Unions having been estab- 
lished in the Canadian Dominion and the 
Hawaiian Islands. The Brotherhood of 
Locomotive Engineers, the Order of Rail- 
way Conductors, the Ancient Order of 
United Workmen, the Knights of Pythias, 
"the International," and the Knights of 
Labor were all founded during or within a 
few years following the Civil War, and it 
was this, doubtless, which suggested to 
Union printers the desirability of a secret 
brotherhood of chosen members of their 
craft. The rise of scores of mutual benefit 
secret societies and the opposition of the 
majority of Union compositors have united 
to check the growth and activity of the 
Brotherhood in late years. 

" The International." — The popular 
name given the International Workingmen's 
Association, a secret and ultimately socialistic 
society of workingmen, which had branches 
throughout Europe and in the United States. 



THE "WANETAS 



401 



It is practically extinct. (See International 
Workingmen's Association.) . 

The Triangle. — Sometimes called Trian- 
gle Club, a society of an exceptionally secret 
character, made up of English-speaking 
members of the Socialistic Labor party in 
New York city, who are also members of 
the Order of Knights of Labor and of the 
Central Labor Federation in New York. 
The CJub is probably more than fifteen years 
old, but facts concerning it are difficult to 
obtain, owing to the absolute secrecy with 
which members surround it. It is not even 
known that any of the names given, properly 
applies to the society, as members refuse to 
discuss such an organization with non-mem- 
bers, much less its name. The anti-socialis- 
tic section of the Knights of Labor char- 
acterize it as "a small cabal of socialists 
having for its object the subordination of 
labor organizations generally to the princi- 
ples of socialism as set forth by the Socialis- 
tic Labor party. Its policy is that outlined 
by Karl Marx, modified by the destructive 
tendencies of the Mazzini school of socialism 
or anarchism." A prominent official of the 
Order of Knights of Labor writes that " the 
Club has no connection whatever with the 
Order, and is. not recognized by it in any 
way." The same official, in a recent Gen- 
eral Assembly of the Knights of Labor at 
Eochester, X. Y., was quoted as follows: 
" Since we met a year ago your general 
officers have had to contend against attacks 
of the most villainous character" . . . for 
"refusing to allow a small clique of men 
who are familiarly known as the New York 
Triangle Club ... to get control of the 
machinery of the Knights of Labor for the 
dissemination of their doctrines." But his 
most significant remark was that ' *' among 
those who assisted this ' cabal ' in their work 
26 



of attempted destruction we find some of 
the best and truest friends of our Order." 
The most conspicuous member of the Tri- 
angle is Daniel De Leon, editor of " The 
People,' 7 New York, a West Indian of 
French extraction, a man of thorough edu- 
cation and culture, who felt compelled to 
resign the position of lecturer on interna- 
tional law at Columbia College because of 
his views on socialism. He is said to be a 
radical among socialists and is credited with 
using the Triangle Club and labor union 
machinery to swing the Knights of Labor 
and other organizations over to the Social- 
istic Labor party. Grand Master Workman 
Sovereign of the Knights of Labor is more 
socialistic in his views than his predecessor 
in office, and that fact may or may not be 
behind the intimation that it is to the Tri- 
angle's influence among the Knights of 
Labor that the latter organization has shown 
a tendency to revert to its position when 
Stephens was Grand Master Workman. 
This would mean a partial reversal of the 
publicity and anti-socialism which marked 
the administration of Powderly. One of 
De Leon's most conspicuous Triangle asso- 
ciates is Lucien Saniel, who was the Social- 
istic Labor candidate for mayor of New 
York a few years ago. (See Order of 
Knights of Labor.) 

The Universal Republic, or the United 
States of the Earth. — A veritable altruria, 
projected by Iowa enthusiasts in 189G. It 
proposed to establish a universal brother- 
hood, where love, truth, and purity should 
prevail to the utter exclusion of ignorance, 
want, and crime. 

The Wanetas. — One of the names by 
which the secret society of compositors, 
members of the International Typographical 
Union, is known. (See The Brotherhood.) 



402 



CADETS OF TEMPERANCE 



XI 



TOTAL ABSTINENCE FEATEE1STITIES 



Cadets of Temperance. — Juvenile 
branch of the beneficiary, total abstinence 
secret society, the Sons of Temperance. 
(See the latter.) 

Daughters of Temperance. — Women's 
auxiliary to the beneficiary, total abstinence 
secret society, the Sons of Temperance. 
(See the latter.) 

Encamped Kniglits of Rechab of 
North America.— An American branch of 
the English Independent Order of Recha- 
bites, Salford Unity, not known to be now 
in active existence. (See Independent Or- 
der of Eechabites.) 

Good Templars. — Organized at Utica, 
N. Y., in 1851, as a total abstinence, secret 
society, to which men and women were eli- 
gible, by the action of L. E. Coon, Rev. 
J. E. N. Backus, and William B. Hudson, 
reorganization committee from the Knights 
of Jericho, a similar society admitting men 
only. The Good Templars was, in fact, the 
Knights of Jericho, changed and renamed. 
The latter was organized at Utica by Daniel 
Cady, of Lansingburg, N. Y., in 1850, 
and passed its candidates through three de- 
grees which they were not supposed ever to 
forget. Cady was a prominent member of 
the Sons of Temperance, membership in 
which at that time was confined to men. 
The Good Templars started with one de- 
gree, the Red Cross, dressed up undoubtedly 
from some of the spurious degree rituals by 
that name which have done duty in various 
secret societies during the past hundred 
years. But this did not meet the needs of 
the time, and the new ritual by Rev. 
D. W. Bristol, assisted by M. R. Barnard 
and C. S. Miles, in which were presented 
the degree of the Heart, teaching duty to 
self, the degree of Charity, and the degree 



of Royal Virtue, teaching duty to God, 
is still referred to with admiration and re- 
spect. Within a year, in 1852, there was a 
split in the ranks, and the Independent Or- 
der of Good Templars made its appearance. 
This condition of affairs continued for sev- 
eral months, when a Grand Lodge of the 
Independent Order of Good Templars for 
the State of New York having been formed, 
both factions came together there. (See 
Independent Order of Good Templars.) 

Independent Order of Good Samari- 
tans and Daughters of Samaria. — Or- 
ganized by the Grand Lodge of the former 
Grand United Order of Good Samaritans at 
New York city, September 14, 1847, a tem- 
perance, benevolent, and beneficial society 
for colored men and women. The Inde- 
pendent Order of Good Samaritans (white) 
was organized by Isaac Covert, M.D., C. B. 
Hulsart, R. D. Heartt, and a few others at 
New York city, March 9, 1847, a true de- 
scendant of the Sons of Temperance, to aid 
in the work of rescuing people from the 
temptation to use strong drink. On Sep- 
tember 14, 1847, a Grand Lodge was formed 
at New York city by representatives of three 
lodges at New York, one at Bridgeport, 
Conn., and one at Newark, N. J. On De- 
cember 9, 1847, the first lodge of Daughters 
of Samaria was organized, also at New 
York, an auxiliary order for women. At 
the first meeting of the Grand Lodge, Sep- 
tember 14, 1847, a charter was granted to I. 
W. B. Smith and others to institute a lodge 
of colored members. The Independent 
Order of Good Samaritans and Daughters of 
Samaria, therefore, dates its birth from a 
period six months later than the organiza- 
tion of the former Grand United Order. It 
exists to this day and claims to have initiated 



INDEPENDENT ORDER OF GOOD TEMPLARS 



403 



FAMILY TREE OF TOTAL ABSTINENCE 



SOCIETIES. 



Sons op 

Temperance, 

organized by 

American 

Freemasons 

and other 8. 

1842—1 



Independent 
Order op 

r.echabites, 

organized by 
British Odd 

Fellows and 
Foresters. 

-1835 



1845- 



1847- 

1850- 
1851- 
1852- 



Royal Templars 
of Temperance. 



[In England. 



[In TJ. S.] 



Templars of 

Honor and 

Temperance. 



Independent 

Order of Good 

Samaritans 



Independent 

Order of Good 

Templars 



Knights and Ladies 
of the Golden Star. 



-1842 
-1845 



-1870 



-1884 



400,000 members. It is educational as well 
as benevolent in its objects and has benefi- 
ciary features, including the payment of 
death, sick, disability, old age, and annuity 
benefits. Its lodges are found in nearly all 
States of the Union and in England. Its 
emblem is the triangle, enclosing the dove 
and olive branch, with the words Love, 
Purity, and Truth on its three sides, and 
symbolizes perfection, equality, and the 
Trinity. The headquarters of the Order 
are at Washington, D. C. 

Independent Order of Good Tem- 
plars.* — A secret society which stands for 
total abstinence and no license. It had its 
conception in the minds of a few printer 
boys in the city of Utica, N. Y., during the 
winter of 1850-51. It sprang directly from 
the Knights of Jericho, an outgrowth of 
the Cadets of Temperance, a boys' temper- 
ance organization under the patronage of 
the Sons of Temperance. Utica Section, 
No. 85, Cadets of Temperance, was com- 
posed entirely of boys and young men be- 
tween the ages of twelve and eighteen, and 
at one time was presided over by Thomas 
L. James, now president of the Lincoln 
National Bank, Xew York, former Post- 
master-General of the United States. 
About 1849 some of the older boys thought 
they would like to have a society of their 
own ; that they could exert a greater influ- 
ence for temperance in an organization 
where little fellows were not admitted. 
Early in 1850 Daniel Cady of Lansing- 
burg, N. Y., founder of the Cadets of Tem- 
perance, came to Utica and instituted the 
Knights of Jericho, a new order, from 
which sprang the Good Templars, Cen- 
tral City Temple, Xo. 1, of Utica, being 
largely composed of the older members of 
the Cadets of Temperance. The Knights 
of Jericho, like the Sons of Temperance 
at that time, did not admit women. It 
had three " very mysterious and frightful 
degrees,'" and as "it was thought" the 

* Drafted by Rev. J. E. N. Backus. 



404 



INDEPENDENT ORDER OF GOOD TEMPLARS 



admission of women would increase the pow- 
er of the order for good, an "organizing 
committee " was appointed by Central City- 
Temple, with power, consisting of Leverett 
E. Coon, James E. N. Backus, and William 
B. Hudson, who visited Oriskany Falls 
Temple, No. 2, eighteen miles south of 
Utica, to see if some change could not be 
agreed upon. Coon and Hudson died years 
ago, leaving the only surviving member of 
the " organizing committee/' 1897, the 
Kev. J. E. N. Backus, who has been called 
the " father of the Order of Good Tem- 
plars." As a result of the visit to Oriskany 
Falls, a resolution was adopted changing 
the name of the Knights of Jericho to 
Good Templars. The first Good Templar 
paper, " The Crystal Font/' was soon issued 
from the office of Thomas L. James, who 
at that time was publishing a Whig paper 
at Hamilton, N. Y. Men and women of 
influence soon began to join the order, 
and Rev. D. W. Bristol, D.D., then pre- 
siding elder in the Utica District, set him- 
self at work to prepare a new ritual. The 
number of lodges having increased to 
thirteen, it was thought advisable to call 
a convention of representatives from the 
various lodges to mature plans for future 
work. This convention was held at Utica 
in 1851, where a warm discussion took 
place between the Rev. Wesley Bailey, 
editor of the Utica " Teetotaller/' and L. 
E. Coon, which resulted in a disagreement 
and bitter feeling. Coon went to the vil- 
lage of Fayetteville, seven miles from Syra- 
cuse, and organized Excelsior Lodge, No. 
1, of the Independent Order of Good Tem- 
plars. Two other similar lodges were or- 
ganized in Onondaga County, so that, for a 
few months, there were two divisions of 
the Order. On August 17, 1852, a Grand 
Lodge of the Independent Order of Good 
Templars of the State of New York was 
organized at Syracuse, with which both 
branches were apparently satisfied. In the 
meantime several new lodges of Good Tem- 
plars had sprung up in Oneida, Tompkins, 



Otsego, Chenango, and Delaware counties. 
Coon, soon after, left the Order, and with 
the organization of the Grand Lodge the 
feud died out and all Templar lodges went 
to work harmoniously. From this small 
beginning the growth of the Order has 
been truly wonderful. With remarkable 
rapidity the Independent Order of Good 
Templars spread into every State and ter- 
ritory of the United States, and into the 
provinces of Canada. For seventeen years 
it was confined to North America, but in 
1868 it appeared in England, and a few 
years later in Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. 
It continued to spread until it was found 
in France, Switzerland, in Asia, Africa, 
Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania and 
other Pacific Islands, and in nearly every 
civilized nation on the globe. With 600,- 
000 members, it is to-day probably the 
strongest organized foe to the legalized 
liquor traffic. In the United States the 
membership of the Order is about 350,000, 
of which 55,000 are juveniles. 

The Right Worthy Grand Lodge of North 
America was organized in May, 1855, at 
Cleveland, O., by representatives of the 
Grand Lodges of New York, Pennsylvania, 
Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Illi- 
nois, Missouri, Iowa, and Canada. The 
following is a list of those who have pre- 
sided over the Supreme or Right Worthy 
Grand Lodge of North America during the 
past forty years : Rev. James M. Moore, 
Kentucky, 1855-56 ; S. Merwin Smith, 
Pennsylvania, 1856-57; Orlo W. Strong, 
Illinois, 1857-58; Hon. S. B. Chase, Penn- 
sylvania, 1858-63 ; Hon. S. D. Hastings, 
Wisconsin, 1863-68; J. H. Orne, Mas- 
sachusetts, 1868-71 ; Rev. John Russell, 
Michigan, 1871-73 ; Hon. S. D. Hastings, 
Wisconsin, 1873-74 ; Colonel J. J. Hick- 
man, Kentucky, 1874-76 ; Colonel Theo- 
dore D. Kanouse, Wisconsin, 1876-78; 
Colonel J. J. Hickman, Kentucky, 1878- 
1881; George B. Katzenstein, California, 
1881-84; John B. Finch, Illinois, 1884-87 ; 
William W. Turnbull, Scotland, 1887-92 ; 



INDEPENDENT ORDER OF RECHABITES IN NORTH AMERICA 



405 



Dr. Oronhyatekha, Canada, 1892-93, and 
Dr. D. H. Mann, New York. 

At the session of the Right Worthy Grand 
Lodge held at Louisville, Ky., in 1876, there 
was a difference of opinion as to the admis- 
sion of negroes into the Order, and repre- 
sentatives from Great Britain, Nova Scotia, 
and Newfoundland, with two from Indiana 
and one each from Ohio and Iowa, withdrew, 
met in another room, and organized what 
they claimed was the Eight Worthy Grand 
Lodge of the World. The schism, however, 
was confined mainly to the continent of 
Europe, although a few lodges in Canada, 
the United States, Asia, Africa, and Aus- 
tralasia joined in the movement. The fol- 
lowing were the presiding officers of this 
body, with their terms of service : Rev. 
James Yeames, England, 1876-77 ; Rev. 
William Ross, Scotland, 1877-79; Rev. 
G. Gladstone, Scotland, 1879-80 ; Joseph 
Malins, England, 1880-85, and Rev. W. G. 
Lane, Nova Scotia, 1885-87. The two or- 
ganizations worked separately for ten years, 
when, at the Saratoga session of Right 
Worthy Grand Lodge of North America, in 
1887, they united and have worked har- 
moniously ever since. 

A system of temperance training and 
study was. projected by the International 
Supreme Lodge in 1888, to cover a period 
of three years, on the basis of forty-five 
minutes' reading daily for nine months of the 
year. Its object is to acquaint members 
with the principles underlying the temper- 
ance reform movement so as to enable them 
to discuss it from historical, scientific, and 
religious points of view. The emblem of 
the International Supreme Lodge contains 
a globe representing the earth, inscribed 
with the words, " our field," which is within 
a circle divided into zones in which are 
the words, "International Supreme Lodge," 
and " Faith, Hope, and Charity/' Pen- 
dent from the centre is a standard contain- 
ing a cross, and above are the All-seeing 
Eye and a heart and anchor. The office of 
the executive of the International Supreme 



Lodge is in Brooklyn, N. Y., and the ad- 
dresses of the officers of the International 
organization range from Brooklyn to Bir- 
mingham, England; Dumfries, Scotland; 
Sacramento, Cal. ; Toronto, Ont. ; Beaufort, 
Africa ; Wrexham, Wales; Calcutta, India; 
and back to Jacksonville, Ela. This is the 
only international American secret society 
which supplements the usual mode of gov- 
ernment through local, State, and national 
lodges, councils, or the like, with an Inter- 
national Lodge. 

Independent Order of Reehabites. — 
An American offshoot from the English 
Independent Order of Reehabites, founded 
at Salford, in 1835 ; introduced into the 
United States in 1842. It is among the 
pioneer sick benefit, total abstinence, secret 
societies, but has a small membership. (See 
Independent Order of Reehabites, Salford 
Unity.) 

Independent Order of Reehabites in 
North America. — Introduced into the 
United States from England, at New York, 
in 1S42. The American work was written 
by Father John Quick of New York. The 
headquarters in this country are at the office 
of the High Secretary in Washington, D. C. 
The parent fraternity was established at 
Salford, in 1835, as a temperance society. 
From humble beginnings this oldest prohi- 
bition order has extended throughout Eng- 
land. Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and the 
smaller British Islands, and is working 
successfully in North America in New 
York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, Vir- 
ginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Wisconsin, 
Michigan, and British Columbia ; in the 
Australian Colonies, in Victoria, New South 
Wales, South Australia, Queensland, West- 
ern Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand ; 
while in Africa it exists in Natal, Cape 
Colony, Namaqualand, Orange Free State, 
and the Gold Coast. Branches have also 
been established in the Bahamas, Jamaica, 
Tolajo, Trinidad, Bermuda, Denmark, and 
Malta. In the United States the usual 
rate of sick benefit is four dollars weeklv. 



406 



INDEPENDENT ORDER OF RECHABITES, SALFORD UNITY 



The funeral benefit is $100. Primary 
Tents are composed of white male persons 
between the ages of sixteen and fifty-five 
years, who believe in the existence and 
omnipotence of God, and are willing to sign 
a pledge of total abstinence. Persons over 
age may become honorary members. Fe- 
male Tents are composed of white women 
twelve years of age and upwards, and there 
are junior branches for boys from twelve 
to sixteen years, and Juvenile Tents for 
children of both sexes between the ages of 
five and sixteen years. Each branch has a 
special service and each branch is repre- 
sented in the higher body. The initiation 
is solemn and impressive, and leaves upon 
the mind of the initiate lessons not likely 
to be forgotten. The first degree, or Knight 
of Temperance, fully exemplifies that prin- 
ciple and is a key to the remainder. The 
second degree, or Knight of Fortitude, illus- 
trates the virtues of fortitude and prudence 
in a manner to impress those principles 
upon the mind and conscience, while the 
sublime lessons of the third, or Covenanted 
Knight of Justice degree, is a fitting com- 
pletion of a wonderously beautiful and per- 
fect whole. Total membership in the 
United States is about 4,000 and through- 
out the world about 220,000, of which 5,000 
are honorary members, 140,000 adults and 
75,000 juveniles. (See Independent Order 
of Eechabites, Salford Unity.) 

Independent Order of Rechabites, 
Salford Unity. — The forerunner, if not 
the parent, of practically all modern bene- 
ficiary, temperance, or total abstinence se- 
cret societies ; founded at Salford, Eng- 
land, in 1835. The compiler of a series of 
articles from the Leed's " Express, " in a 
short history of the chief affiliated friendly 
societies, published at Leeds about fifteen 
years ago, states : 

If any order in the world has a claim to call itself 
an Ancient Order it is that of the Rechabites. As 
we learn from the Scriptures, a command was laid 
over 2,700 years ago upon the sons of Jonadab, 
the son of Rechab, that they should drink no wine, 



neither they nor their sons forever ; and the injunc- 
tion has been obeyed to this day. At various 
periods in modern history have travelers come 
upon the lineal descendants of these Rechabites of 
old, in Spain, in the districts visited by Dr. Wolff, 
and in the neighborhood of the Dead Sea, still adher- 
ing faithfully to their total abstinence principles. 
Other orders may claim the questionable honor of be- 
ing founded by extremely mythical personages, but 
the Independent Order of Rechabites, if it cannot 
prove an uninterrupted kind of apostolic succession 
from Rechab,. can show that it has at least a continu- 
ity of purpose and a similarity of aim that effectually 
connect it with the Rechabites of old. The prom- 
ise of the Prophet Jeremiah that for their faithful- 
ness in adhering to the command of their fore- 
fathers they should not want a man of the house of 
Rechab to stand before the Lord forever has been 
literally fulfilled. There is no break in the chain, 
and for nearly 3,000 years a living testimony of 
total abstinence has been upheld on the earth. The 
English Rechabites are not lineally descended from 
these ancient Eastern teetotalers. The present Or- 
der sprang from the desire of a few total ab- 
stainers living in Salford in 1835 to found a benefit 
society on teetotal principles. Such a thing had 
never been heard of before. The affiliations and 
societies that were then in existence had leaned for 
support on the landlords, much to the advantage of 
the latter. Clubs in public houses were the rule, 
and those who differed from the upholders of the 
drinking that necessarily went on were denounced 
as selfish curmudgeons and enemies to social enjoy- 
ment. 

It was on August 25, 1835, therefore, 
that the first teetotal benefit secret society 
was founded at Salford, and called Tent 
Ebenezer, lSo. 1, the title of " tents " being 
given, instead of lodges, to still further 
associate the society with the ancient Eech- 
abites, for the commands of Jonadab were 
not only to abstain from wine, but " all your 
days ye shall dwell in tents." 

The early career of the new Order was 
not all smooth sailing, and by 1854, nine- 
teen years after it was founded, it had only 
7,000 members. It was registered in Eng- 
land as a friendly society shortly after, 
since which time it has prospered. In 1869 
it numbered 13,884 members, of which 
5,013 were in other countries, and -by 1879 
its total membership was 33,000, of which 
10,000 members were in Australia, the 



INDEPENDENT ORDER OF RECHABITES, SALFORD UNITY 



407 



Canadian Dominion, Newfoundland, the 
West Indies, South Africa, and " else- 
where abroad." The Order is made up of 
male adult tents, female adult tents, and 
juvenile tents, most of the English tents 
being self-governing and having care of 
their own funds for the payment of sick 
and other benefits. Every member of the 
Order signs a pledge to " abstain from all 
intoxicating liquors except in religious or- 
dinances, or when prescribed by a legally 
qualified medical practitioner during sick- 
ness which renders one incapable of fol- 
lowing any employment, . . . also 
that he (or she) will not give or offer them 
to another, nor engage in the traffic of 
them, but in all possible ways will dis- 
countenance the use, manufacture, and sale 
of them, and to the utmost of my power 
I will endeavor to spread the principles of 
abstinence from all intoxicating liquors." 
The Order is governed in England by a 
Movable Committee, which form is plainly 
borrowed from English Odd Fellowship. 
This committee meets at different towns 
once in two years. Executive power is 
vested in a board of directors elected by 
the Movable Committee, which meets quar- 
terly to transact business. The sub-divi- 
sions into districts and tents follow closely 
after the general form of government of 
leading Orders of Odd Fellows and Forest- 
ers. The range of benefits given by the 
Eechabites is about the same as in other 
orders, but the method of subscribing for 
them is different. Members subscribed for 
from one to six shares in the sick, and from 
one to four each in the funeral benefits. 
One share in the sick fund called for Id. a 
week, and paid 2s. 6d. a week during the 
illness of the holder, and one share in the 
funeral fund was valued at £5, and cost 
5d. per quarter. This system has been mod- 
ified by the adoption of the more equitable 
system of contributions graduated accord- 
ing to age, similar to the system now in use 
in most other beneficiary societies. The 
Eechabites have made a point of what 



they claim to be a lower death rate over a 
period of years and a smaller total number 
of days' illness of members than may be 
found in like organizations in a given num- 
ber of years, their object being to prove 
-that abstainers as a body are healthier than 
non-abstainers. In order to show this they 
contrast the records of the average annual 
number of days' and hours' illness of each 
member of the Independent Order of Eech- 
abites in the Bradford District during the 
years 1870 to 1877 inclusive, amounting to 
four days and two hours, with a corre- 
sponding exhibit from the records of the 
Manchester Unity of Odd Fellows in Brad- 
ford District, in the same years, the latter 
amounting to thirteen days and ten hours. 
A like comparison as to the annual death 
rate in the two orders showed that only one 
in every 141 of the Bradford District Eech- 
abites died, while among the Odd Fellows in 
that District the rate was one in forty-four. 
But as the average age of the Manchester 
Unity was given at forty years, and that of 
the Eechabites at thirty years, and as there 
were no means of determining what pro- 
portion of the Bradford Odd Fellows were 
abstainers, partial abstainers, or greatly ad- 
dicted to drink, the compilations and com- 
parisons leave much to be desired. The 
Eechabites, like other sick benefit orders, 
has its ritual and ceremonies, which a 
"zealous neophyte" has described as fol- 
lows : "Its simplicity yet impressiveness 
was to me really beautiful ; in fact, when 
compared with the modes of initiation 
adopted in other orders that I have for 
some years been familiar with, viz. : the 
Foresters, Odd Fellows, etc., it certainly 
stands unrivalled." English accounts of 
the Order content themselves with the 
statement that it has been extended to 
America, where there are two flourish- 
ing Orders, the National Order of Inde- 
pendent Eechabites and the Encamped 
Knights of Eechab of North America. 
No records are obtained of the latter in the 
United States, but the Independent Order, 



408 



KNIGHTS OF JERICHO 



which was introduced into this country 
in 1842, has not nourished greatly, its 
total membership not exceeding 4,000. 
The headquarters of the American branch 
of the Order are at Washington, D. C. 
The Order has an organization in nine 
States. The total membership of the vari- 
ous Orders of Eechabites in all countries is 
about 220,000. 

Knights of Jericho. — A total absti- 
nence secret society, founded at ITtica, !N". 
Y., by Daniel Cady of Lansingburg, N. Y., 
in 1850, who organized the juvenile branch 
of the Sons of Temperance, known as the 
Cadets of Temperance. Within a year the 
Knights of Jericho was reorganized as the 
Good Templars, and a year later a dissatis- 
fied brother organized a rival society with 
the title Independent Order of Good Tem- 
plars, which united with the Good Tem- 
plars in 1852 under the name Independent 
Order of Good Templars. The latter is the 
largest and most successful secret society 
in the world the members of which are 
pledged to total abstinence. (See Indepen- 
dent Order of Good Templars.) 

Marshall Temperance Fraternity. — 
One of the earlier names of the Templars 
of Honor and Temperance. (See the latter; 
also Sons of Temperance.) 

Marshall Temple of Honor, No. 1, 
Sons of Temperance. — A title of the 
Templars of Honor and Temperance, while 
temporarily subordinate to the Sons of Tem- 
perance. (See Templars of Honor, etc.; 
also Sons of Temperance.) 

Royal Templars of Temperance, 
The.— Organized in 1870 at Buffalo, N. Y., 
as the result of an effort to close the saloons 
on Sunday. Its founder, Cyrus K. Porter, 
had. for many years been actively identified 
with the Freemasons, Odd Fellows, and 
Sons of Temperance, and so acquired the 
experience necessary to frame a ritual for 
an organization which should be educa- 
tional and uplifting in its character. An 
active interest was taken in the movement, 
which subsequently became a secret frater- 



nal benefit society, with a benefit fund, 
from which, on satisfactory evidence of the 
death or total disability of a beneficiary 
member, a sum not exceeding $5,000 
should be paid to the family, orphans, de- 
pendents, or persons having an insurable 
interest in his life. The Supreme Coun- 
cil, or law-making body of the order, was 
organized at Buffalo, February 16, 1870. 
During its earlier years the order en- 
deavored to unite all to labor morally, 
socially, and religiously for the promotion 
of the cause of temperance, and in this 
regard maintained a local organization and 
confined its efforts to purely local work. 
At a meeting of the Supreme Council, 
January 15, 1877, a revised constitution, 
including the benefit system, was adopted, 
and the society reorganized. From the 
date of its reorganization its growth was 
marked, and has kept pace with the ever- 
widening influence of the fraternal system. 
The formation of the order, while un- 
doubtedly inspired by, was not the result of 
any disruption of other temperance orders. 
It came into the fraternal world with a 
special work to perform, and claims to be 
"the only strictly total abstinence order that 
has successfully combined its temperance 
principles with its beneficiary work." Dur- 
ing twenty years the stream of benefits, 
which appeared small at its beginning, has 
steadily increased, until over $5,000,000 has 
been disbursed in the United States and 
Canada. Its membership is composed of 
both men and women, who enjoy equal 
rights and privileges. Its government is 
vested in a Supreme Council, which meets 
biennially, composed of the incorporators 
of the order and officers and representatives 
from Grand Councils. Grand Councils are 
formed in any State or territory where a 
sufficient number of Select Councils have 
been organized, and when so formed have 
jurisdiction in its State or territory, ex- 
cept in the beneficiary department. Select 
Councils are the subordinate or working 
bodies of the members. An influential 



SONS OF TEMPERANCE 



409 



branch exists in the Dominion of Canada, 
which has a separate beneficiary jurisdic- 
tion. A union has been formed with the 
Swedish American branch of the Templars 
of Temperance, and the beneficiary depart- 
ment is managed as one in theUnited States. 
An emergency or reserve fund is a feature 
in both the United States and Canada. 
The strength of the order in the United 
States and Canada, and in the Scandi- 
navian branch, exceeds 20,000 members 
in the beneficiary department and about 
30,000 social members. The number of 
Grand Councils in the United States is 
seven, and in Canada five. The order does 
business in twenty-seven States, aims to 
furnish insurance at actual cost, and " has 
no deaths from intemperance." Its plans 
have been improved by experience, and as 
its record inspires confidence its prospects 
are bright for continued success. 

Sons of Honor. — One of the various 
titles by which the Templars of Honor and 
Temperance was known prior to the organi- 
zation of the National Temple. (See 
Templars of Honor, etc.; also Sons of 
Temperance.) 

Sons of Jonaclab. — A prominent New 
England total abstinence, secret society, 
founded at Boston more than half a century 
ago. It flourished as late as twenty years 
ago, but is now dormant. It was manifestly 
an imitation of the English secret, total 
abstinence society, the Independent Order 
of Rechabites, which was introduced into 
this country in 1842. A Son of Jonadab 
who broke his pledge could not be rein- 
stated. (See United Daughters of Be- 
en ab.) 

Sons of Temperance. — The Sons of 
Temperance is the oldest among several 
American temperance or total absti- 
nence secret societies. It was formed in 
1842 at New York city by sixteen gentle- 
men, prominently Daniel Sands and John 
W. and Isaac J. Oliver, at a time when a 
great temperance reform movement was 
under way, to attract and give permanence 



to what might otherwise prove only a spas- 
modic repentance. The Washingtonian 
movement, as it was called, had swept the 
country and was composed nearly altogether 
of converts from the use of intoxicating 
liquors who were bound to live up to their 
professions of, reformation by a simple 
pledge only. The founders of the Sons of 
Temperance felt the necessity of an organi- 
zation of a fraternal character combined 
with beneficiary features, and it was started, 
therefore, purely as a philanthropic project, 
" to reform drunkards and to prevent others 
from becoming drunkards.'" Many of the 
local divisions, corresponding to lodges, pay 
sick and funeral benefits, and there is a 
relief society established exclusively for 
members of the order, which includes the 
life insurance feature of so many fraternal 
organizations. The order is open alike to 
men and women, as are its offers of insur- 
ance and relief. Sick and funeral benefits 
are paid by local divisions from quarterly 
dues. It has been eminently progressive, 
having gone forth from the United States, 
throughout the North American continent, 
to the Bahamas, Liberia, Australia, Xew Zea- 
land, England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. 
This fraternity is composed of subordinate, 
Grand, and National Divisions, there being 
four of the latter, one each in North Amer- 
ica and the United Kingdom, and two in 
Australia. About one-half of its total 
membership of 64,000 is in the United 
States. It is the parent of the Indepen- 
dent Order of Good Templars, a similar 
organization, which does not pay pecuniary 
benefits, and which has far outstripped it 
in the race for membership. 

The Sons of Temperance was introduced 
into England at Liverpool in 1846 by a Mr. 
Thomas, an Englishman " who had been 
to America and initiated there. By 1855 
a National Division was formed in England 
which is independent, although all the 
National Divisions recognize each other's 
members as visitors when furnished with 
proper credentials. The Sons of Tenrperance 



410 



TEMPLARS OF HONOR AND TEMPERANCE 



took the lead in England in demonstrat- 
ing the propriety and practicability of 
both men and women mingling in secret 
society lodges. At first there was qnite 
an outcry against it in the United States. 
" Suppose this example was followed by 
Odd Fellows, Shepherds, Foresters, Druids, 
and the rest," wrote one, "what would 
become of their secrets then ? " Evidently 
he was not well informed as to what had 
been accomplished by the Daughters of Ee- 
bekah, the Companions of the Forest, the 
Daughters of Liberty, and many other secret 
societies of men and women in the United 
States attached to secret societies for men 
only. In the end, English members of the 
Sons of Temperance evidently saw the use- 
fulness of organized Daughters of Temper- 
ance, which is connected with, but is not 
governed by, the Sons of Temperance, and 
provided a general rule that each branch of 
the order may admit women visitors after 
they have been obligated in conformity 
with the visitors' ritual. Ultimately the 
Daughters of Temperance crossed the At- 
lantic, and while acknowledging no subjec- 
tion to the English Sons, " work amicably 
with them." In England the beneficiary 
features of the organization are emphasized, 
as is natural in the face of the examjDle 
of so many successful English affiliated 
friendly societies. The initiatory cere- 
monial is elaborate, particularly as com- 
pared with that of many of the minor and 
some of the more important British secret 
beneficiary societies, and its regalia, decora- 
tions, and titles are striking. The Cadets 
of Temperance is designed for boys, but 
is controlled by the Grand Division. The 
English brethren adopted the cadet feature 
also, which youths may join. On arriving 
at sixteen years of age the latter are drafted 
into divisions. A pledge of total abstinence 
from the use, manufacture, or sale of all in- 
toxicating liquors is, of course, a pre-requi- 
site to joining either the Sons, Daughters, 
or Cadets. Expulsion is the penalty of 
repeated violation of the pledge, for there 



are several opportunities permitted for re- 
pentance and maintenance of membership 
in good standing. 

Whether the Sons of Temperance, founded 
at New York city in 1842, was in whole 
or in part the outgrowth of a desire to 
parallel the success of the Independent 
Order of Eechabites, formed at Salford, 
England, in 1835, is not plain. Yet 
the fact that the Independent Order of 
Eechabites was introduced into America 
in 1842, the year in which the found- 
ers of the Sons of Temperance met to 
formulate their plans, suggests that the 
English Independent Order of Eechabites 
is entitled to rank as the inspiration of the 
Sons of Temperance, which, four years later, 
in 1846, went over to England and thence 
half round the world, to renew the triumphs 
it had won in America. 

Out of the 64,000 Sons of Temperance in 
the world about 30,000 are in the United 
States. The office of the Most Worthy 
Scribe, as the secretary of the organization 
is called, is at South Hampton, N. H. More 
than 3,000,000 names have been on the rohs 
of the Sons of Temperance since its organ- 
ization in 1842. 

Templars of Honor and Temper- 
ance. — A fraternal, mutual assessment, ben- 
eficiary, total abstinence society ; the old- 
est and most direct descendant of the Sons 
of Temperance, which is the oldest similar 
society of American origin. The latter was 
founded at New York city in 1842, and two 
years later, at the annual session of the na- 
tional, or governing division, in New York, 
a proposition was made to draft three de- 
grees based on the society's legend, " Love, 
Purity, and Fidelity." But the anti-secret 
society sentiment then prevailing in various 
State Divisions, the outgrowth of the anti- 
Masonic agitation of 1827-40, was strong 
enough to defeat the project. The Sons of 
Temperance itself was a secret society, but 
adhered to extreme simplicity in its cere- 
monials. As the members of Marshall Di- 
vision, No. 11, Sons of Temperance, New 



TEMPLARS OF HONOR AXD TEMPERANCE 



411 



York city, strongly favored the introduc- 
tion of degrees into the order, together 
with signs, as a safeguard against imposi- 
tion, that body took steps on June 2, 1845, 
" without any definite object as to ulterior 
results/' * to organize a strictly total absti- 
nence association haying in yiew an impres- 
sive and practical ceremony more lasting in 
its teachings than the forms gone through 
with by the Sons of Temperance. A plan 
was also incorporated for extending relief 
to sick and distressed members, but with 
all these changes there was no expectation 
that the outcome would be a split from the 
parent society. The newly formed organ- 
ization was practically a society within a 
society, and called itself the Marshall Tem- 
perance Fraternity after the division in 
which it had its birth. In November, 1845, 
the name of the body was changed to Mar- 
shall Temple, No. 1, Sons of Honor, a title 
manifestly suggested by that of the parent 
society. 

Efforts were made in that month to bring 
the Sons of Honor into the Sons of Tem- 
perance, as an adjunct to the latter, all 
members of the new society being Sons 
of Temperance, and its name was again 
changed to Marshall Temple of Honor, 
No. 1, Sons of Temperance. This was at a 
meeting held December 15, 1845, the birth- 
day of the order. Among the first officers, 
A. D. Wilson, E. T. Trail, and JohnMurphy 
are regarded as the founders. It was then 
arranged that none but Sons of Temper- 
ance should be made Sons of Honor, and 
Marshall Temple of Honor, No. 1, should 
grant charters for subordinate Temples of 
the new order within an order until there 
should be five such, when a Grand, or State, 
Temple would be formed. But before the 
Grand Temple of Honor of the State of 
New York was organized at American Hall, 
Grand Street and Broadway, New York 
city, on February 21, 1846, Marshall Temple 

* Early History of Templars of Honor, etc.. 
Cincinnati, 1855. 



had fourteen subordinate Temples, twelve 
at New York and one each at Philadelphia 
and Baltimore. The Grand Temple of 
New York was to act as the head of the order 
until the National Division, Sons of Tem- 
perance was ready to formally incorporate 
the new order within itself. The work of 
establishing subordinate temples of Sons of 
Honor progressed rapidly, but as the Na- 
tional Division of the Sons of Temperance, 
in June, 1846, declared it "inexpedient to 
form a connection between the National 
Division and the Temples of Honor," the 
National Temple of the Templars of Honor 
and Temperance of the United States was 
organized in Columbian Hall, No. 263 
Grand Street, New York city, November 
6, 1846, by representatives of the Grand 
Temples of New York, Pennsylvania, Mary- 
land, Massachusetts, and Ohio, thus marking 
the permanent separation of the two socie- 
ties. The National Temple of Honor 
promptly declared itself a total abstinence, 
secret fraternity and adopted a ceremonial 
of three degrees, entitled, respectively, Love, 
Purity, and Fidelity, and a ritual and re- 
galia, together with " a traveling pass and 
key." The degrees have since been in- 
creased to six by the addition of the degrees 
of Tried, Approved, and Select Templar, 
the last named representing the summit 
and perfection of this variety of templarism. 
Before the Civil War the order spread to 
the South and West, where it had a large 
membership, but it never completely rallied 
from the loss of membership due to the 
war. It numbered about 7,000 men and 
women at the close of 1896, residents of 
Maine, Massachusetts, Khode Island, Con- 
necticut, New York, Pennsylvania, New 
Jersey, Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, 
Louisiana, Texas, Utah, Wyoming, New 
Brunswick, England, and Sweden. The 
beneficiary department has not proved a 
marked success, and membership in it is 
not obligatory. The social department is 
composed mainly of women, but brethren 
are eligible to membership. It is managed 



412 



UNITED ORDER OF THE GOLDEN CROSS 



and controlled by women under the guid- 
ance of the Inner Temple of the Grand 
Temple, and contained, at the close of 
1896, about 1,100 women members. 

Junior Templars of Honor and Tem- 
perance meet in sections. Boys of from 
twelve to fifteen years of age are eligible 
to join, and at eighteen years of age may 
enter the Temple of Honor, for which 
the preliminary training is designed to 
prepare them. The Templars of Honor 
ritual is based on historical accounts of 
Templar knighthood, with fraternal teach- 
ings drawn from the stories of David and 
Jonathan and Damon and Pythias. 

It is more than a matter of conjecture 
whether the ritual and degrees of the Tem- 
plars of Honor were suggested, in part, at 
least, by printed and other outgivings of 
the fierce anti-secret society agitation which 
had hardly quieted down when this society 
of teetotal Templars made its appearance. 
The names of the three supplementary de- 
grees of the Templars of Honor suggest 
Masonic inspiration, and the formation of 
Councils of Templars by those attaining 
the highest or Select Templar degree par- 
allels the relationship of the Chapter to the 
lodge in Freemasonry under the American 
system or rite. Quite significant, as bear- 
ing on this, is the chief emblem of the 
order, a temple, and within it the nine- 
pointed star, composed of three interlaced 
equilateral triangles. 

The government of the order rests in the 
Supreme Council, which has jurisdiction 
over Grand Temples and Grand Councils, 
the latter being composed of representatives 
of subordinate temples and subordinate 
councils. Only members of the sixth or 
Select Templar degree are eligible to mem- 
bership in subordinate councils. The order 
is not only unsectarian, but unpolitical, and 
seek?, in addition to pledging its members 
not to use or traffic in intoxicating liquors, 
to enforce "prohibition by the strong arm 
of the law, maintained and upheld by pub- 
lic sentiment." (See Sons of Temperance.) 



United Order of the Golden Cross. — 

A mutual assessment beneficiary society of 
men and women total abstainers from the 
use of alcoholic drinks as a beverage, founded 
by Dr. J. H. Morgan in New England in 
1876, one of the older of this variety of or- 
ganizations. ,• It is governed by a Supreme 
body composed of its officers and represent- 
atives of Grand bodies, which have jurisdic- 
tion over subordinate Commanderies. Its 
strength lies in the New England States, 
but Grand Commanderies also exist in New 
York, District of Columbia, Tennessee, 
Kentucky, and Indiana. Its organizers 
were Freemasons who sought, by a system 
of graded assessments, to form an econom- 
ical and safe method of insuring the lives of 
members for $500, $1,000, or 2,000. The 
Order also cares for members when in sick- 
ness and distress. Its success is attested by 
its annual death-rate of only about 9 in 
1,000, and its grand total of nearly $4,000,- 
000 paid to beneficiaries since the date of 
organization. Acceptable white men and 
women between sixteen and fifty-five years 
of age are eligible to membership, and it 
claims to be among the first societies, if not 
the first society, of the kind to admit women 
to its ranks on the same terms as men. In 
1893 there were 20,257 members, and in 
1897, 28,000. The emblem of the Order 
is a Greek cross with the initials of the 
words United Order, Golden Cross in the 
arms thereof, and a five-pointed star in the 
centre, crossed by a monogram formed of 
two letters S. The headquarters of the 
society are at Lewiston, Me. 

United Daughters of Rechab. — S. C. 
Gould, in his resume of Arcane Fraternities 
in the United States, 1896, says that the 
society was established at Boston, March 
15, 1845, and " their pledge is based on 
the command of Jonadab, the son of 
Rechab, to his posterity." Their motto 
was, " Mercy and Truth are met together." 
This was a branch of the Sons of Jonadab. 
Both were total abstinence societies, and 
both are dead. 



CLAN-NA-GAEL 



413 



XII 



EEVOLUTIOB'AETJBEOTHERHOODS 



Brotherhood of United Irishmen. — 

One of the earlier titles of the Clan-na-Gael. 
(See the latter.) 

Clan-na-Gael. — What ma)' be consid- 
ered as the first camp of this Irish revo- 
lutionary secret society was formed at 
New York city in 1869 by the union of 
three hundred seceding Fenians and a 
small band of local Irish conspirators 
known as the Knights of the Inner Circle. 
The objects of the Clan-na-Gael were to 
bring all Irishmen at home and abroad 
into one vast organization and to secure 
the freedom of Ireland by armed insurrec- 
tion. The original title was the Brother- 
hood of United Irishmen, but later it was 
frequently called the United Brotherhood 
by means of the letters " V. G.," the Clan 
cipher using letters immediately follow- 
ing those given. The new organization 
drew to it the more active element in the 
Fenian Brotherhood, and began the work 
of establishing camps, as local bodies were 
termed, all over the United States. By 
1873 it claimed to have practically absorbed 
similar societies in this country, winch in- 
dicated a decline in interest, as the Clan's 
total membership was only about 11,000 in 
1876. It is governed, so far as ordinary 
business affairs are concerned, by an Execu- 
tive Committee. Its revolutionary projects 
and the funds for their execution are in 
the exclusive charge of the Revolutionary 
Directory, who have worked in sympathy 
with the Irish Republican Brotherhood, 
the foreign branch of the Fenian Brother- 
liood, thus pointing to the dormancy of the 
latter. Le Caron, in his "Twenty-five 
Years in the Secret Service," not only 
states that the Clan-na-Gael was organized 
with a " Masonic form of ritual, grips, pass- 



words, signs, and terrorizing penalties/' 
but declares that Masonic signs, etc., were 
adopted by the Clan without modification. 
The Clan-na-Gael has characterized some 
of Le Carom's pretended revelations as lies, 
and has ignored others. If Le Caron was a 
Freemason he would not have made those 
statements, and what he wrote is valueless 
if he was not a Freemason. One charac- 
teristic of the Clan is its custom of taking 
innocent and, in a sense, misleading titles 
for its camps, such as the " Columbia Lit- 
erary Association." Its active revolution- 
ary work consists in raising funds, by 
subscription and otherwise, for the use of 
the Revolutionary Directory. As it has no 
army to invade the British Empire it has 
been charged and credited with attempting 
to place explosives in the coal bunkers of 
English shipping ; with trying to blow up 
the House of Parliament and other public 
buildings ; with planning to assassinate the 
Queen ; with the construction of a sub- 
marine torpedo boat intended to successfully 
combat a fleet of British war vessels, and with 
other and similar plots calculated to bring 
distress to British subjects and the British 
government. These enterprises have been 
conducted by means of the " skirmishing 
fund," collected from members or other 
" friends of Ireland " by those appointed 
for the purpose. During the years 1876-88 
the Clan had a large membership and was 
prosperous, hundreds of thousands of dol- 
lars passing into and out of its skirmishing 
fund annually through the hands of the 
Revolutionary Directory. In 1881 Alex- 
ander Sullivan was chosen Supreme Chief 
of the Clan-na-Gael, which excited the 
jealousy or animosity, or both, of Dr. P. H. 
Cronin, who was also a prominent leader. 



414 



CLAN-NA-GAEL 



Both men were residents of Chicago, and, 
in a way, rivals for preferment in the 
Clan. John Devoy sided with Cronin and 
O'Meagher Condon with Sullivan. The 
fight was bitter, Cronin, in effect, charging 
Sullivan with mismanagement of the so- 
ciety's funds and with desiring to hold the 
highest executive position in order to cover 
the fact. The outcome was a demand for 
an investigation, followed in 1884 by the 
expulsion of Cronin and his friends, who 
immediately reorganized and continued the 
Clan-na-Gael. The Sullivanites called their 
half of the old organization the Triangle, 
after the practice of using the A on official 
documents of the Clan. The factions con- 
tinued an acrimonious and stormy existence 
for two or three years, wlien friends of the 
leaders endeavored to bring them together 
and reunite the two wings at a congress 
called for 1888. They were successful, but 
the Croninites insisted that those in charge 
of the funds of the society four years before 
be tried for misappropriation, and succeeded 
in carrying the point, when, much to the 
astonishment of even some of his friends, 
Dr. Cronin was placed on the committee 
to try Alexander Sullivan and others for 
unfaithfulness while in charge of the funds 
of the Clan. Cronin was expected to be an 
important witness at that trial, and hence 
the surprise at his being made a prosecutor 
and judge. This placed a club in Cronin's 
hands, which may or may not explain his 
sudden death not long after. His body 
was found in a sewer basin and suspicion 
was naturally directed to some of his ene- 
mies among the Clan-na-Gael, several of 
whom were indicted. The outcome of 
this notorious case was the acquittal of 
Sullivan, but three others received life 
sentences. 

The society has not been quite as con- 
spicuous in late years, either by reason of 
its public appearance or through the an- 
nouncement of plans to free Ireland by 
carrying death and destruction into the 
British empire. The names of some of 



those identified with the Clan have been 
prominent in party politics in the United 
States in recent presidential years. 

Various Hibernian, Chrysanthemum, and 
other so-called Literary associations, really 
camps of the Clan-na-Gael, continue to dot 
the country, but, so far as learned, they 
have indulged in nothing more serious dur- 
ing the past few years than picnics and 
literary entertainments, except to celebrate 
March 4, the birthday of Eobert Emmet, 
the Irish patriot. The Clan announces 
itself to be "the vanguard and embodi- 
ment of Irish nationality, the motive power 
which animates and regulates the Irish 
struggle, and has nobly kept the national 
flag and national principles to the front in 
dark and evil days/' 

It also characterizes itself as "benevo- 
lent, literary, and historic, cultivating the 
language, literature, art, science, and music 
of ancient Ireland, while giving all possible 
aid to the mother country in its aspirations 
and efforts to establish the principles of 
Dathe Brine, Wolfe Tone, and Emmet, or 
assist in doing for Erin what William Tell 
and George Washington did for their coun- 
tries." In the United States the Clan-na- 
Gael says it is "first in peace, first in war, 
and first in every effort to perpetuate and 
maintain the spirit of the Declaration of 
Independence, to foster and maintain the 
historic friendly relations existing between 
Ireland and America since the days of 
Washington and Franklin, who looked upon 
Ireland as a sister republican state in 
spirit." 

During 1895 and 1896 it was announced 
in a number of newspapers, notably by the 
New York " Sun/' that the Clan-na-Gael 
was forming a large and well-drilled mili- 
tary organization within itself, known as 
the Irish Volunteers, which promised to 
become a menace to Great Britain. The 
president of the Clan in New York was 
quoted by the paper named as saying "that 
the Clan-na-Gael was supporting the mili- 
tary movement, and that the object was to 



INDUSTRIAL ARMY 



415 



organize a force for the United States in 
case of war." 

Fenian Brotherhood. — Founded in 
1857, by Colonel John O'Mahoney, Michael 
Doheny, and others, at New York, to se- 
cure the political independence of Ireland. 
O'Mahoney and Doheny were Irish refugees 
who escaped to France in 1848 and came to 
the United States. The name Fenian is a 
modification of the Irish form, Fiana, which 
Irish tradition applies to some of the tribes 
constituting the militia of the King of 
Erin. The Fenians (Feinne or Fiana) in 
the early history of Ireland and Scotland 
are represented as an established militia " to 
defend the country against foreign or domes- 
tic enemies, to support the right and succes- 
sion of their kings, and to be ready, upon 
the shortest notice, for any surprise or emer- 
gency of state." With the rise of monasti- 
cism, says Johnson's Universal Cyclopaedia, 
"the ancient order disappeared/' but has 
" remained to the Gaelic imagination what 
Arthur and his Knights were to the Cym- 
ric.' ' The Fenian Brotherhood of 1857 was 
made up of circles presided over by centres. 
The chief executive was called the head- 
centre. It spread rapidly throughout the 
United States to Ireland, and among Irish- 
men in the United Kingdom, practically 
absorbing then existing political societies 
having the independence of Ireland in view. 
In Great Britain it Avas known as the Irish 
Republican Brotherhood. Between 18G3 
and 1872, when it was quite active and se- 
cured large membership, it was governed by 
the head-centre and a senate. At its Chi- 
cago convention in 18G3 there were 240,000 
members reported, and its object was de- 
clared to be to separate Ireland from Eng- 
land and to establish an Irish Republic. 
Several unsuccessful attempts were made at 
insurrection in Ireland, and at the close of 
the war one noteworthy invasion of Canada 
from Buffalo. The invading Fenian force 
1866 was small considering the size of the 
general organization, but it penetrated into 
the Queen's Dominions to Ridgeway, Onta- 



rio, where it repulsed a detachment of Ca- 
nadian troops. The invaders were soon 
driven back into the United States, where 
they were seized by the authorities, and al- 
lowed to go to their homes, on parole. At 
the time of this invasion of Canada there 
was a Fenian "navy" also, consisting of 
one tugboat carrying one gun. It steamed 
up and down Niagara River between Buf- 
falo and Fort Erie, carrying the Irish flag 
proudly aloft and occasionally firing in the 
direction of Fort Erie. A second attempted 
invasion of Canada was even less successful. 
The Brotherhood then began raising funds 
for further efforts to liberate Ireland, and 
from these efforts are supposed to have re- 
sulted the Fenian riots in Great Britain in 
1867. The first Council of the Brotherhood 
in the United States was held at No. 22 
Duane Street, New York, but in 1864 its 
headquarters were on Centre Street, whence 
they were soon removed to Duane Street 
again. It was after its Cincinnati conven- 
tion in 1865 that the organization began to 
grow rapidly and accumulate funds. With- 
in another year the national headquarters 
were moved to Union Square, where the ac- 
commodations were ample, appointments pre- 
tentious, and officials exclusive and difficult 
to interview, even by members of the Broth- 
erhood ; for few except leaders were permit- 
ted to pass the green-uniformed halberdiers 
who guarded the doors to the inner offices. 
The result was disputes, discontent, dissen- 
sion, loss of interest and members. With 
the rise of the Clan-na-Gael in 1869-73, the 
Fenian Brotherhood became less and less 
prominent. It is related that 'Donovan 
Rossa gathered together the fragments of the 
organization late in the seventies, and re- 
tired with them to his office on Chambers 
Street. His efforts to secure funds to buy 
dynamite and arms to liberate Ireland are 
within easy recollection. It was not many 
years after, that the Fenian Brotherhood as 
an organization practically ceased to exist. 

Industrial Army. — An organization 
among the laboring classes, advocating 



416 



IRISH REPUBLICAN BROTHERHOOD 



revolution as a remedy for. economic and 
social ills. It appeared in 1896. Little is 
known as to its numerical strength. (See 
Iron Brotherhood.) 

Irish Republican Brotherhood. — The 
name by which the Fenian Brotherhood, 
and afterwards the Clan-na-Gael, w r as known 
in the United Kingdom and Ireland. (See, 
Fenian Brotherhood, and the Clan-na-Gael.) 

Iron Brotherhood. — A secret "revo- 
lutionary society," claiming to be a law 
unto itself, an outgrowth of the business 
depression and social unrest developed dur- 
ing the years 1894-96. A similar organiza- 
tion which appeared at the close of 1896 is 
called the Industrial Army, which General 
Master Workman Sovereign of the Knights 
of Labor declared in a letter to a labor organ, 
in February, 1897, was, with the Iron Broth- 
erhood, ready to provoke insurrection at 
home as a release from economic burdens, 
idleness, and starvation. He also quotes in 
part as follows, from a circular distributed 
by one of these societies : 

In the closing of the nineteenth century we see a 
class despotism establishing itself upon the ruins of 
the Republic. An oligarchy is now in power, and 
already the hideous phantom of imperialism over- 
shadows us, as embodied in the autocratic claims 
of the Federal Court and the acts of unbridled mili- 
tary despotism characteristic of the Federal Govern- 
ment of to-day. What is to be done ? We have 
appealed in vain to the ballot. Every trial of 
strength in the political arena has resulted in vic- 
tory for the unscrupulous money power. There is 
nothing surprising in this. The ballot is a weapon 
best wielded by the hand of cunning and craft. 
History records no nation that freed itself by vot- 
ing. No ; let us be frank. The hour has come for 
men to lay aside the mask and look each other in 
the face. Fellow reformer, would you be free ? 
Would you see the regime of corporate power and 
class despotism at an end ? Would you see the 
shackles stricken forever from the limbs of human- 
ity and behold emancipation, the rebirth of the 
nation which Jefferson revered, that Paine wrote 
and wrought to establish ? Do you believe that 
this can come through the ballot ? No, you do 
not. Have not the reformers spent their lives, 
their fortunes, and their energies in the cause of 
political reform through the ballot box, and what 
has been the result ? Have they not seen the cun- 



ning and unscrupulous always victorious, emerging 
from every campaign master of the spoils ? Have 
you any hopes that this will be changed in the 
future ? The past is one long protest against the 
ballot as an instrument of reformation. 

The Iron Brotherhood secured many ad- 
herents in the far West, notably in Col- 
orado. A Colorado newspaper, in June, 
1897, published an account of the growth of 
the Brotherhood in that State, in which it 
was said that members who were all armed 
had sworn to carry out the purposes of the 
commander-in-chief, and not to " tolerate " 
Chinese, Italians, or Jews. 

Kn Klux Klan. — A former secret society 
of "regulators," organized at Pulaski, Giles 
County, Tenn., in June, 1866, originally 
designed for the diversion of young men of 
the town, to relieve the dullness of a period 
immediately following the close of the Civil 
War, when the reaction from the excitement 
of army life made it practically impossible 
to engage in business or professional pur- 
suits. The most detailed account of the 
origin, growth, and disbandment of the 
Klan, one which gives genuine evidence 
that the authors knew much of the internal 
workings of the society, and which has been 
regarded as a partial apology for the many 
outrages with which the name of the soci- 
ety has been linked, was published in the 
" Century Magazine " in July, 1884. The 
origin of the title of the organization is in- 
teresting. At the second meeting of the 
founders one suggested calling it u Kukloi," 
from "the Greek word kuklos, meaning a 
band or circle," when somebody else cried 
out, " Call it Ku Klux," when the word 
"Klan" immediately suggested itself, and 
was added to complete the alliteration. The 
writers of the article in the magazine named 
suggest that there was a weird potency in the 
very name Ku Klux Klan which impressed 
not only the general public, but exercised 
an influence over members themselves 
which was responsible for the excessively 
solemn and mysterious, even sepulchral 
character of the ritual, ceremonies, and 



KU KLUX KLAN 



417 



appearances of the society. Accordingly, the 
presiding officer became- the Grand Cyclops ; 
the vice-president, a Grand Magi; the mar- 
shal, a Grand Turk; and outer and inner 
guards of the Den, as the place of meeting 
was called, Lictors. Members were sworn 
to profound secrecy respecting the Klan 
and everything pertaining to it. They 
were not permitted to tell who belonged to 
it or to solicit people to join. They wore 
white masks with holes through which 
to see and breathe ; tall, fantastic card- 
board headpieces and grotesque or hideous 
gowns. The ceremony of initiation was 
borrowed from some of the features of the 
introduction of candidates of the long de- 
funct Sons of Malta and other like societies, 
and was calculated to, and did provoke, 
much amusement for most of those, if not 
all, who were present- The Den was estab- 
lished in the L of a partially ruined dwelling 
at the outskirts of the town, about which 
were storm-torn, limbless trunks of trees. 
The founders were among the representative 
business and professional young men of the 
town. The nature of the society soon at- 
tracted attention, and applications to join 
were numerous. "When a desire to unite 
with the Klan was expressed in the presence 
of a member, he would take the applicant 
aside when unobserved, and say that he 
thought he knew how to get in, and suggest 
that they meet at some particular time and 
place and join together. It was not until 
after the boisterous and grisly sounds of 
mirth and mystification had ceased in the 
Den — sounds which soon led the colored 
people and gentler townsfolk to avoid the 
locality after dark — that the newly initiated 
member discovered, if even then, that he 
had been introduced through a member, 
rather than by an applicant like himself. 
During July and August the Ku Klux Klan 
was the talk of Pulaski and the surround- 
ing region. Its growth was rapid, and 
young men from the country found their 
way to the town and ultimately into the 
recesses of the Den. Applications to estab- 
27 



lish Dens at distant points began to pour in 
as membership in the ' Klan increased, and 
during the fall and winter of 1866 many 
were granted. It was not long before 
" strangers " who joined the Klan began es- 
tablishing Dens at their homes, even with- 
out permission, but by "tacit agreement" 
the Grand Cyclops of the Pulaski Den was 
" virtually the ruler of the Order." 

To this time it is declared that ludicrous 
initiations, the baffling of public curiosity, 
and amusement for members were the only 
objects of the Klan, and in each of these 
directions it was singularly successful. 
Beginning in April, 1867, there was a grad- 
ual transformation which, within the year, 
developed a band of "regulators." This 
is explained in the sketch referred to as due 
to the effect of the order on the minds of 
its members, on the public, and to "the 
anomalous and peculiar condition of affairs 
in the South at that time." The members 
had conjured up a veritable Frankenstein. 
They had played with an engine of power 
and mystery, though organized on entirely 
innocent lines, and found themselves over- 
come by a belief that something must lie 
behind it all — that there was, after all, a se- 
rious purpose, a work for the Klan to do. 

Many white people, not members, had 
been frequently overcome with awe or ter- 
ror at the sepulchral and often horrible 
sights and noises for which the order after 
dark was responsible. The ignorant and 
superstitious were even more impressed by- 
what they imagined it all meant, and the 
negroes in particular were so terror-stricken 
by all that was conveyed by the term Ku 
Klux that in many localities where there 
were Dens they refused to go out of doors 
after nightfall. Given these conditions and 
the peculiar social, business, and political in- 
fluences that reigned throughout the South; 
the era of forcible "reconstruction;" inroads 
of what were termed " carpet-baggers ; " 
the dominance of border Federals who had 
"played traitor to both sides," the enfran- 
chisement of the blacks and consequent 



418 



KU KLUX KLAN 



placing of majority rule, in many instances, 
in the hands of an ignorant and, at the time, 
antagonistic race, and it is alleged to be suf- 
ficient to account for the natural evolution 
of the Klan into a "protective organization." 
There was great disorder throughout por- 
tions of the South at that period, and it was 
not all on one side. There was an armed 
negro and white population antagonistic to 
those who represented the recent Confeder- 
acy, and outbreaks were frequent. It was 
then that the reorganized Ku Klux Klan 
made its appearance, the one which the 
North has identified with "midnight mur- 
der" and "political infamy." It is ad- 
mitted that at this period the Klan threw 
some of its conservatism to the winds, 
and recruited its membership ofttimes with 
rash, imprudent, and bad men. The Klan 
could, not have disbanded then had it tried. 
In order to gird up its loins more effectually 
it held a convention at Nashville early in 
1867, at which the territory covered by 
it was termed "the Invisible Empire" — 
pointing to Knight of the Golden Circle 
influences — the Empire being divided into 
realms, dominions and provinces, correspond- 
ing to States, Congressional districts and 
counties. Autocratic powers were lodged 
with the Grand Wizard, or supreme officer. 
His cabinet consisted of ten Genii. The 
Grand Dragon governed a State, or realm, 
aided by eight Hydras; a Grand Titan and 
his six Euries presided over a dominion; a 
Grand Giant and four Goblins over a prov- 
ince, and the Grand Cyclops, in charge of a 
Den, was aided by two Night Hawks. At 
this convention the Klan declared: "We 
recognize our relation to the United States 
government, the supremacy of the Constitu- 
tion, the constitutional laws thereof, and the 
union of the States thereunder." The au- 
thors of the " Century" article infer from 
the quotation that ' ' every man who was a 
Ku Klux really took an oath to support the 
Constitution of the United States." The 
writer is unable to extract that meaning 
from the quotation. It is further stated 



that the Nashville convention set forth its 
objects: to protect the weak, innocent, de- 
fenceless; relieve the injured and oppressed; 
succor the suffering, especially widows and 
orphans of Confederate soldiers; to protect 
and defend the Constitution of the United 
States and all laws passed in conformity 
thereto, and to assist in the execution of all 
constitutional laws, and protect the people 
from unlawful seizure, and from trial except 
by their peers and in conformity to the laws 
of the land. 

After this the Klan appeared in public 
oftener, but preserved the extreme secrecy 
and mystery which had characterized it. 
Its membership had grown to large dimen- 
sions and its power proportionately. Bad 
men crept into the order, and thousands 
who were not bad, but who were rash, 
lacked judgment, and could not be con- 
trolled. The result in 1867 and 1868 was. 
that many deeds of violence and bloodshed 
marked attempts described as efforts to 
preserve peace and order. Many outrages 
explained as due to the Ku Klux were com- 
mitted by those who tried to shield them- 
selves in that way. Even the negroes played 
at Ku Klax. Gradually a feeling of ex- 
treme hostility toward the Klan showed it- 
self. They were attacked and fired on, 
as claimed, without provocation, which nat- 
urally caused counter hostilities. (See 
Union League of America. ) Late in 1868 the 
Grand Dragon of the realm of Tennessee, 
"Dreadful Era, Black Epoch, Dreadful 
Hour," issued a general order, denouncing 
the misjudgment of the Klan by the public, 
declaring it a society for the maintenance of 
law and order. But matters grew worse, and 
Governor Brownlow called the Tennessee 
Legislature together in September of 1868, 
when it passed an anti-Ku Klux statute, 
designed to suppress the society, imposing 
heavy fines and imprisonment for mere 
membership in the order, offering a reward 
of relief from liability for members who 
would turn informers, and declaring asso- 
ciation or connection with the Klan "infa- 



KNIGHTS OF THE GOLDEN CIRCLE 



419 



mous." " In some sections of the State a 
reign of terror followed the passage of this 
act," and the governor's last action before 
going to the United States Senate was to 
order troops into certain counties to sup- 
press the disorder. This was on February 
20, 1869, and was shortly followed by the 
formal and official dissolution of the Order 
by the Grand Wizard of the Invisible Em- 
pire, " who was invested with the power to 
determine questions of paramount impor- 
tance to the order. " Members were directed 
to burn their paraphernalia and regalia, and 
to unite with all good people " in maintain- 
ing and upholding the civil laws and in 
putting down lawlessness." The article 
from which many of the foregoing points 
have been taken says of the report of the 
joint select committee of Congress on the 
condition of affairs in the late insurrection- 
ary States, Eeport No. 22, Part I, 42d 
Congress, 2d Session, February 19, 1872, 
that " it contains a mass of very disrepu- 
table history which belongs to a later date, 
and is attributed to the Klan, but not justly 
so. These persons were acting in the name 
of the Klan and under its disguises, but not 
by its authority." Truly, as declared by D. 
L. Wilson, who with J. C. Lester is respon- 
sible for the article to which reference has 
been made, the birth of the Klan ' t was an 
accident ; its growth was a comedy, its death 
a tragedy. . . . There never was before, 
or since, a period of our history when such 
an order could have lived. May there never 
be again." 

Knights of the Golden Circle. — De- 
scribed in the "Century Dictionary of 
Names" as "a former secret order in the 
United States in sympathy with the Seces- 
sionists." The time and place of its organ- 
ization, as might naturally be supposed, are 
lost in the obscurity into which almost all 
pertaining to the early history of the order 
has fallen. The '" Order of the Lone Star," 
believed to have had its origin in 1852, at 
a period when the Know Nothing party 
was at the height of its power, is supposed 



to have played a part in founding the 
Knights of the Golden Circle. Henry 
Baldwin, custodian of American History, 
New Haven, Conn., relates that data in his 
possession are authority for the statement 
that the circumference of the Golden Circle 
reached from the Mason and Dixon line on 
the north to the Isthmus of Panama on the 
south, and that within this circle was con- 
tained the field of the organization. 

Before the Civil War there existed in 
almost every large town in the Southern 
States a social club, and when it became 
evident to the mind of Secessionists that it 
was possible for Southern States to secede, 
an effort was made to unite these clubs 
into one body as a secret society. A man 
"from Cincinnati " is said to have travelled 
through the Southern States in further- 
ance of this purpose. During the war 
there were arrests made in the West,* and 

* In Charles M. Harvey's "A Forgotten Conspir- 
ator," published in the St. Louis "Globe-Demo- 
crat," November 7, 1897, there occurs the following : 
"A secret organization has been found, said Gov- 
ernor Oliver P. Morton of Indiana in a message 
to that State's legislature in June, 1865, which, by 
its lectures and its rituals, inculcates doctrines sub- 
versive of the government, and which, carried to 
their consequences, would evidently result in the 
destruction of the nation. The members of the 
organization were united by solemn oaths which, if 
observed, bound them to execute the orders of their 
grand commanders without delay or question, how- 
ever treasonable or criminal their character. . . . 
Some of the chief conspirators have been arrested 
and tried by the government and others have fled. 
Their schemes have been exposed and baffled." Of 
course the secret organization which Indiana's gov- 
ernor spoke of was the Knights of the Golden Cir- 
cle. This order had many designations. It was 
called the American Knights, the Knights of the 
Mighty Host, the Mutual Protection Society, the 
Circle of Honor, the Sons of Liberty, and various 
other names. Some of the men who were arrested 
on the charge of belonging to it, and who acknowl- 
edged their membership in it in some one or other 
of its appellations, denied that its purposes were 
treasonable, or that it was designed to give aid and 
comfort to the Confederacy. The fact, though, 
that all, or nearly all, the men who were known to 
belong to it were also known to be copperheads, or 



420 



KNIGHTS OF THE INNER CIRCLE 



southern sympathizers, is in itself good evidence 
that its purposes were hostile to the government. 
Among the well-known persons who were popularly 
supposed to belong to the order were Clement L. 
Vallandigham, Jesse D. Bright, and General Ster- 
ling Price. The late Daniel W. Voorhees was also 
said to have been a member of it. 

a military trial revealed the names of sev- 
eral organizations, or several names of the 
same body, among which was the Corps de 
Belgique. Prior to the war the several 
bodies from which the Knights were formed, 
or into which they were divided, formed 
the storm centre of the filibuster move- 
ment in Central America and Cuba between 
1850 and 1857. During the Eebellion the 
Knights were especially active in Texas, 
and its membership spread through the 
border States, both slave and free. On 
June 16, 1863, a meeting was held in 
Springfield, 111., when it was resolved to 
take the draft as a pretext for revolution, 
"and it was arranged that New York 
should take the initiative." The Morgan 
raid into Indiana aud Ohio " was a part 
of the plan." 

In July, 1861, the Louisville "Journal" 
gave what purported to be an expose of the 
Knights of the Golden Circle, which de- 
clared that the "organization was insti- 
tuted by John C. Calhoun, William L. 
Porcher, and others as far back as 1835, 
and had for its object the dissolution of the 
Union and the establishment of a south- 
ern empire." The question naturally arises 
whether the reorganization of the Ku Klux 
Klan in 1867-68, with its "invisible em- 
pire," did not find inspiration from former 
Knights of the Golden Circle. It was also 
charged that it was solely by means of the 
secret and powerful machine of the Knights 
of the Golden Circle that the Southern 
States were plunged into rebellion ; that 
nearly every man of influence at the South 
(and many a pretended Union man at the 
North) was a member of that organization, 
and "sworn under penalty of assassination 
to labor, in season and out, by fair means 



and foul, at all times and on all occasions, 
for the accomplishment of its object." It 
was also included that " whether the Union 
is reconstructed or not, the Southern States 
must foster any scheme having for its object 
the Americanization and the southerniza- 
tion of Mexico." It was likewise published 
that a staunch member of the Circle was 
made to " swear that he will never dishonor 
the wife of a brother member known to be 
such . . . and to declare that he will, to 
the utmost of his ability, oppose the admis- 
sion of any confirmed drunkard, profes- 
sional gambler, rowdy, convict, felon, abo- 
litionist, negro, Indian, minor, or foreigner 
to membership in any department of the 
Circle." The order was anti-Catholic, and 
demanded that " all nunneries, monasteries, 
or convents should be publicly opened," 
and that any minister holding any place 
under government "must be a Protestant." 
The order was declared to be fully organ- 
ized in the North, where it appeared under 
various names. The end of the Civil War, 
and with it the possibility of secession, 
ended the career of this .remarkable organi- 
zation. 

Knights of the Inner Circle. — A 
small band of Irish revolutionists, formed 
at New York about 1867, which in 1869 
united with about three hundred seceding 
members of the Fenian Brotherhood to 
form the Brotherhood of United Irishmen, 
which was afterwards known as the United 
Brotherhood and then as the Clan-na-Gael. 
(See the latter. ) 

National League of the Armenian 
Race in America. — Organized at Boston, 
January 8, 1895, to aid by secret society 
methods in rescuing Armenia from the 
rule of Turkey. The central board chose 
from among trusted men of the race 
"twelve patriots, whose identity will be 
known to them alone, so that there will 
be no possible way by which the Turkish 
government may discover them, and thus 
defeat the plans being formed to wrest 
Armenia from the rule of the Porte." 



UNITED BROTHERHOOD 



421 



Armenians at large were to remain ignorant 
of the identity of the men chosen, and the 
oaths of the latter bound them for life not 
to reveal the fact that they were selected 
for the mission. Similar leagues were to 
be formed throughout the United States 
wherever there were Armenian colonies. 

Order of Mules. — Organized just after 
the close of the Civil War, a secret society 
of farmers in Kentucky and West Virginia, 
to put a stop to lawlessness, horse stealing, 
and general thievery. It was at first known 
as the Mutual Protective Society, but ulti- 
mately became known by its present title 
owing to its adoption of a picture of an 
attenuated mule as its emblem. Its policy 
is to cooperate to secure the detection and 
conviction of wrong-doers rather than to 
inflict punishment upon criminals. The 
Grand Lodge of the Order, which holds an- 
nual sessions, reports a total membership 
of about 3,000. 

Order of Reubens. — A revolutionary 
secret society, formed in 1838, at cities and 
towns from Detroit east, on the north and 
south shores of Lakes Erie and Ontario, 
notably through central New York, to aid 
[i projected Canadian revolution, and a plan 
for the acquisition of British North America 
as a part of the territory of the United 
States. It formed, as may be inferred. 
one of the features of what is known as 
the Patriot War, which was planned in 
what was then called L'pper and Lower 
Canada, by Joseph Louis Papineau, a 
wealthy and influential resident of Quebec, 
and William Lyon Mackenzie, a newspaper 
man and political speaker of Ontario. 

It is said that the latter travelled through 
Michigan, Ohio, Xew York, and Vermont, 
from Detroit to Burlington, to secure the 
cooperation of Americans in the anticipated 
Canadian uprising. In the Auburn, N.Y., 
correspondence of the Syracuse "Herald," 
July 17, 1897, it was stated by one of the 
survivors of the invasion that Mackenzie, 
when at Auburn, organized a secret soci- 
ety lodge of nearly 700 members. Similar 



lodges were formed elsewere on both sides 
of the border. The society which " went 
under the name of ' Reubens ' " had eight 
grips and passwords, and its members were 
obligated to " aid the movement for inde- 
pendence with men, money, arms, and am- 
munition," to, be forthcoming "at the first 
sight of hostilities." The invasion was 
made in November and resulted in an in- 
glorious defeat, the claim being that the 
Canadians did not reinforce the Americans 
as promised. 

Union League of America. — Declared 
by D. L. Wilson and J. C. Lester, authors 
of the " Origin, etc., of the Ku Klux Klan," 
in the "Century" magazine for July, 1884, 
to consist, at the South, "of the disorderly 
elements of the negro population, . . . 
led by white men of the basest and mean- 
est type," . . . who " met frequently 
. . . armed to the teeth," and "liter- 
ally ' breathed out threatening and slaugh- 
ter' . . . against persons, families, 
and property of men whose sole crime was 
that they had been in the Confederate 
army, and in not a few instances these 
threats were executed. It was partly to 
resist this organization that the Ku Klux 
were transformed into a protective organiza- 
tion." (See Ku Klux Klan.) The editor 
of the "Century Magazine" adds in a foot- 
note : "What is meant here is the Union 
League of America, a political organization 
having connections both North and South, 
and entirely distinct from the Union League 
club of New York and from the club of 
the same name in Philadelphia. Viewed 
by the results of the Ku Klux conflict and 
the reports of the time, what is here said 
of the dangerous character of the Union 
League at the South, except as it acted in 
self-defence, must be taken, we think, with 
a grain of allowance." The Union League 
of America did not long survive the condi- 
tions on which it appeared to feed. 

United Brotherhood. — One of the 
names by which the Clan-na-Gael was 
formerly known. (See Clan-na-Gael.) 



432 



BUTTON GANG" 



XIII 



MISCELLANEOUS SOCIETIES 



"Button Gang." — Nickname for the 
Mutual Protection League of New Mexico. 
(See the latter.) 

Camorra, Tlie. — Originally a Neapolitan 
political secret society, similar to the Car- 
bonari of Italy and the Mafia of Sicily, 
which were prominent early in the present 
century as an organized opposition to the 
Triple Alliance. The Mafia and the 
Camorra have preserved an existence to this 
day, but, having fallen into the hands of 
vicious leaders, have degenerated into bands 
of criminals bound together by oaths to 
protect and defend each other in the com- 
mission of crime, and to slay those who 
may prove unfaithful to their obligations. 
(See Mafia. ) Less is heard of the Camorra 
in the United States than of outbreaks from 
time to time by reputed members of the 
Mafia. The wave of immigration from 
Europe in the preceding and during the 
present decade is responsible for the exist- 
ence of associations of members of both 
these societies in the United States. 

Independent Order of Old Men. — 
Credited to the conceit or imagination of 
founders who resided at Burnet, Texas. 
Nothing has been obtained relating to its 
features. 

Knights of Damon. — Eecent ; referred 
to in Southern newspapers, but untraced. 

" Knights of Labor." — A secret politi- 
cal organization in New Mexico, having no 
connection with the industrial secret soci- 
ety of that name ; also called White Caps, 
though differing from the lawless bands of 
alleged conservators of morals which mas- 
querade at the South, East, and central 
West under that title. It was described in 
a communication to the New York " Sun," 
dated Santa Fe, N. M., November 4, 



1896, as containing the worst element of 
the Democratic party and " ignorant 
Mexican Indians," to resist the encroach- 
ments of the Eepublicans, " who formed 
Mutual Protection Leagues." Evidently the 
latter, known as the "Button Gang," was 
made up of equally bad people, as " mur- 
der" was a "recognized political method" 
by these societies, a mere "campaign 
trick," as " assassins have been rewarded 
with office for their services." The officers 
are or were " backed by Americans," and " a 
history of the murders committed by these 
bands of assassins would fill a large volume." 
These societies are said to, have been in 
existence in this form for seven or eight 
years. 

Mafia, The. — A Sicilian secret society of 
criminals, who bind themselves together to 
prey upon society and protect each other. 
There is a tradition that the "deadly 
Mafia," as it is called, is the outgrowth of 
a patriotic secret society formed at Palermo, 
Sicily, in 1782, to drive out the French, 
who then ruled there. The word Mafia 
had no meaning of its own, but was com- 
posed of the initials of the words, " Morte 
alia Francia Italia anelea," or, "Death to 
the French is the cry of Italy." The' pur- 
pose of the parent Mafia was to resist op- 
pression, and as it grew strong and rich, it 
is stated that it used its influence in behalf 
of the poor and oppressed. In after years 
it fell into the hands of the unprincipled 
and vicious, and even in Sicily to-day the 
name of the society, as here, is a synonym 
for crime. The organization in Sicily still 
exercises an influence to control elections, 
courts of justice, and coerce employers of 
labor into giving preference to its mem- 
bers. The society was brought to the 



THE MOLLY MAGUIRES 



423 



United States by Italian immigrants, where 
it has found lodgment at New York, New 
Orleans, Philadelphia, Chicago, in the Penn- 
sylvania coal regions, and elsewhere. Its 
record, so far as known, is one of highway 
robbery, atrocious assault, and murder. A 
suspicion that a member has betrayed the 
society or a brother results in his being 
followed until an opportunity is afforded 
to kill him. The society was accused of 
killing the Chief of Police of New Orleans 
in 1890, and eleven of its members, who 
'had been arrested and acquitted of the 
charge, were taken from jail by a mob and 
lynched. At the protest of the Italian 
government, the United States government 
agreed to indemnify the relatives of the 
murdered men. A few years ago the Mafia 
in the Pennsylvania anthracite coal regions 
actually duplicated some of the viler records 
at robbery, arson, and murder of which 
the Molly Maguires were guilty ten or 
twelve years before. They were arrested 
and punished by the same method of de- 
tection that was employed to break up the 
Mollies. The location of the society in New 
York is not far from police headquarters. 
"While the police have not admitted official 
knowledge of this, there is little reason to 
doubt their familiarity with the fact. It is 
given out that when a new member is to be 
initiated into the Mafia he is placed in a 
group of members, and with all lights ex- 
tinguished, at a given signal, an order to 
" charge " is given, lights are turned up, 
and the candidate finds a terrifying array 
of glittering blades held close to his face 
and body — stilettoes with their points 
pressed against him — and hears a voice 
saying, " Death to all traitors ! " The 
candidate sinks upon his knees, and places 
the point of a stiletto upon his bared breast 
over the heart, and swears that he would 
plunge the blade into his heart rather than 
betray his brothers in the Mafia. He is 
reminded that his brothers are ready to be 
avenged if he proves unfaithful. 

Molly Maguires, The. — This so-called 



" order " existed in the anthracite coal 
regions of Pennsylvania from 1854 to 
1876, and from 1862 onward was respon- 
sible for a practical reign of terror, 
owing to the lawlessness, assaults, train 
wrecking, arsons, and murders committed 
by its members. It was a regular secret 
society, composed " entirely of Irishmen 
and the sons of Irishmen professing the 
Roman Catholic faith,* having signs, pass- 
words, and other means of recognition. 
The "Mollies" were members of the 
Laborers and Miners' Union of the period, 
and were sufficiently numerous to practi- 
cally dominate the latter, which, at times, 
gave rise to the not altogether well-founded 
opinion that the. Union was in sympathy 
with the lawless portion of society. Worse 
than this, while all members of the chari- 
table and benevolent incorporated secret 
society, the Ancient Order of Hibernians, in 
the coal regions, were not members of the 
Molly Maguires, ''every Molly was a Hiber- 
nian," and the two organizations, so far as 
the coal regions were concerned, for that 
reason were regarded as identical. The 
origin of the Molly Maguires is, naturally, 
obscure. The original of that name ap- 
peared in Ireland in 1843 as an auxiliary to 
the Ribbonmen, to continue forcible resist- 
ance to Irish landlords. The name was 
said to be that of an old woman at whose 
house the first meetings were held, but 
other writers claim it was applied to the 
members of the Irish organization because 
of their original practice of disguising 
themselves with women's clothes, masks, 
blackened faces, etc. The Irish Mollies, 
disguised, would pounce upon and maltreat 
officers of the law, servants, and others 
when engaged in the performance of their 
duties. If there were any, even remote, 
connection between the Irish Ribbonmen 
and Molly Maguires in the United States, 
it must have been through the Ancient 

* The Mollie Maguires : the Origin, Growth and 
Character of the Organization ; by F. P. De Wees. 
Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1877. 



424 



THE MOLLY MAGUIRES 



Order of Hibernians,, which had an exten- 
sive membership in Ireland, England, and 
this country. But on this point there is no 
direct proof. The Ancient Order of Hiber- 
nians, at the time it was possessed by the 
Mollies, in Pennsylvania, nominally pro- 
fessed the purest and most worthy motives, 
and numbered throughout the United States 
many good and some distinguished citizens. 
But it proved a convenient cloak for the 
Molly thugs and assassins, and notwith- 
standing there were reports that some 
Catholic priests in the coal regions sympa- 
thized with the Molly Maguires, it, if true, 
must be attributed to either the fears 
or perversion of such representatives of a 
Christian church. On October 3, 1874, 
seven priests of the Roman Catholic Church 
of Schuylkill, Columbia, and Northum- 
berland Counties, Pennsylvania, published 
a denunciation of Kibbonmen "and kindred 
societies" as having been condemned by the 
Holy See ; and of the Ancient Order of 
Hibernians, which their "experience com- 
pelled " them to believe had "all the vices" 
of the Irish societies referred to, because 
" works forbidden by the commandment 
'thou shalt not kill' are traceable to the 
Ancient Order of Hibernians." Rev. D. J. 
McDermott of Pottsville, Pa,, 1877, one of 
the signers of the document just outlined, ( 
published a letter May 1, 1876, giving it as 
his opinion that the Ancient Order of Hi- 
bernians is a " diabolical secret society," and 
that "it is everywhere the same society in 
spirit and government." It is only fair to 
add that the latter conclusion was not well 
founded. The breaking up of the Ribbon- 
men, organized in Ireland earlier in the cen- 
tury, by the execution of two members in 
1852 for conspiracy to murder, caused many 
to flee from the country ; and these are de- 
clared to have formed in 1854 the secret so- 
ciety known in the Pennsylvania coal regions 
as " Buckshots." They ultimately became 
the Molly Maguires. The Mollies made 
themselves felt not only by the so-called capi- 
talistic class, but by many an honest laboring- 



man. The bludgeon, a hammer, the pistol, 
and shotgun were indiscriminately employed 
to revenge a fancied or real antagonism.* A 
partial record of the outrages of 'the Molly 
Maguires in the Schuylkill and Shamokin 
coal regions has been made public, and an 
analysis of it shows that in addition to six 
murderous assaults and twenty-seven rob- 
beries in each of the years 1866 and 1867, 
there were, from 1863 to 1867, inclusive, at 
least fifty deliberate murders for which the 
organization was held responsible. Among 
minor outrages, an illustration is afforded' 
by the record for 1875, of one attempted 
murder in addition to an assassination ; 
eight cases of theft and robbery; six so- 
called " coffin and pistol notices " to leave; 
fourteen instances of arson; twenty-eight 
cases of assault, intimidation, etc., a num- 
ber of them being the work of mobs, and 
thirty-five instances of damage to property 
aside from incendiarism, most of it being 
to railway stations, track and rolling stock. 
These cold-blooded incendiaries and assas- 
sins gloried in the power to escape punish- 
ment through alibis and other testimony 
furnished by "brother" Mollies, thereby 
reflecting on many worthy Irish people who 
emigrated to escape oppression abroad. 
They were at once an anomaly and a dis- 
grace to the character of their countrymen 
and the land which gave them birth. The 
immunity which the criminal in the coal 
regions enjoyed, aside from that given him 
by those associated with him in the organ- 
izations referred to, was due very largely to 
the fact that the majority of the Irish pop- 
ulation, particularly that portion which had 
been born and brought up abroad, had 
inherited the Irish detestation of an "in- 
former." Even in instances where a wit- 
ness could not approve an act, so great was 
the influence of inherited contempt for and 

* The frequency of attacks on Englishmen re- 
sulted in an organization of the latter to resist the 
outrages of the Mollies, which in 1871 was formed 
into the fraternal and beneficiary secret society, the 
Order of Sons of St. George. (See the latter.) 



TRAMP FRATERNITIES 



425 



disapproval of the " informer " that eastern 
Pennsylvania was often the scene of dis- 
graceful outrages, of which many were as 
cognizant as the perpetrators, but who 
would not tell of or consent to appear and 
testify concerning them. At the height 
of their power, 1865-1875, the Mollies 
gained many subordinate and some impor- 
tant municipal, county, and State '0111063 
from both leading political parties, and 
boasted, with some show of plausibility, 
their power to secure pardon for such of 
their members as might find it necessary to 
demand clemency. 

Their encroachments on the rights of 
property became so intolerable in 1870- 
1873 that Mr. Franklin B. Gowen, presi- 
dent of the Philadelphia and Eeading 
Coal and Iron Company, as prime mover, 
engaged the Pinkerton Detective Agency 
to discover and expose the leaders among 
the Molly Maguires and Hibernians in the 
coal regions. The story of the experiences 
of Detective James McParlan, an Ulster 
Roman Catholic, during three years of 
membership as a Molly, and in the Ancient 
Order of Hibernians, forms so startling 
a tale of adventure as to prove anew that 
truth is stranger than fiction. In 1876, 
aided largely by confessions from Mollies 
who had been arrested and the remarkable 
testimony of Detective McParlan, a long 
list of ringleaders and others were con- 
victed of various crimes and severe sen- 
tences were imposed. This broke up the 
organization, many members fleeing the 
State and some the country. 

The following is an extract from an ar- 
ticle on " The Molly Maguires," in the 
"American Federationist," the organ of the 
American Federation of Labor, April, 1897: 

I was intimately acquainted with John Sharkey, 
the man who murdered the mine boss Williams, and 
no man in the range of my knowledge had more of 
my esteem up to that time than John Sharkey. His 
home was respectable, and his wife an estimable, in- 
telligent, worthy woman. But Sharkey was the man 
on whom the lot fell to kill the mine boss, and the 



fearful oath of the order bound every man to do 
the stern duty devolving upon him as the order 
might command. More than one hundred and 
fifty murders in three years in the Lackawanna, 
Schuylkill, and Wyoming coal fields, and a strike 
that paralyzed the coal and iron business of the 
whole State of Pennsylvania for one entire summer, 
was a part of the mission of the dreaded order of 
the Molly Maguires. 

So, while the thug of India and the 
bandit of Italy remain as evidences of how 
calmly and justifiably in their own minds 
some men can continue to kill others to 
prevent themselves being annoyed, the 
Molly Maguire in the United States and 
Ireland, even as the buccaneer of the Span- 
ish main of yellow-covered novel remem- 
brance, is literally dead to the world. It 
is proper to add that the Ancient Order of 
Hibernians, so much of the history of 
which in this country has been unfortu- 
nately linked with the Molly Maguires, 
survives to-day, purified, reorganized, and 
prosperous. 

Mutual Protection League. — A former 
political secret society formed of some of the 
worst elements in the Republican party in 
Xew Mexico ; also known as the " Button 
Gang." (See " Knights of Labor.") 

Order of Sovereign Patriotic Knights. 
— Efforts to trace this organization or to 
discover whether it has even a nominal ex- 
istence have been unsuccessful. 

Tramp Fraternities. — These are com- 
posed of groupings of the portion of the popu- 
lation which includes (1) enforced or vol- 
untary wanderers, (2) adventurers who will 
not work, and (3) beggars and petty thieves. 
Their characteristics, groupings, and secret 
signs were interestingly discussed by Rev. 
A. 1ST. Somers in the Boston " Globe " a few 
years ago, when he pointed out that there 
are three different sets of signs used by as 
many distinct classes of tramps since 1875. 
The latter, of course, are unorganized, be- 
ing the outcome of a process of natural 
selection, the higher grade or clan including 
not only honest, but educated men, who from 
psychological and other causes have become 



426 



WHITE CAPS 



tramps. Signs of these fraternities are 
characters and designs placed on houses, 
gates, fences, doors, or walls to guide the 
next tramp who may pass that way. Most 
of these signs refer to the ease or otherwise 
with which people residing there may be 
approached for food or clothing; whether 
they are kind-hearted or not, and kin- 
dred data. The signs of one tramp fra- 
ternity are seldom or never intelligible to 
a member of another. The more aristo- 
cratic of these fraternities shows in its signs 
the educational opportunities some of its 
members have enjoyed. Thus, the Greek 
letter Eho at a street corner or fork in the 
road indicates by its curve the direction to 
go to secure food, clothing, etc. ; a square, 
marked near or on a house, means "good 
for a square meal ; " an oval, or oval with 
both its diameters, "religious/' or "very 
religious people ; " a triangle pointing up- 
wards, " safe people ; " pointing downwards, 
c ' they have been approached too often;"' 
the letter Y, " it will not pay to ask for 
anything ; " a square with an x in the 
centre, "they will send you to jail," and a 
circle with an x in the centre, "an officer 
lives here." Signs used by the second and 
third classifications of fraternities of tramps 
are very crude, and some may be easily read 
by the curious. 

" White Caps." — Another name for a 
so-called " Knights of Labor," a secret po- 



litical society composed, as alleged, of some 
of the most vicious elements of the "Demo- 
cratic party "in New Mexico. (See "Knights 
of Labor.") 

"Wliitecaps, The. — Detached and unor- 
ganized oath-bound bands of " regulators " 
or "vigilance" societies at many places 
in Southern, Central, Western, and even 
in Middle and New England States which 
have appeared within the past fifteen years. 
At the North and East efforts of White- 
cappers have generally been confined to 
regulating the morals and habits of their 
neighbors under penalty of being whipped, 
tarred and feathered, or worse. At the 
South, and in what were called the border 
States, like phenomena have been more 
frequent. Some of these gangs send warn- 
ing messages, crudely written, with skull 
and bones and dagger, etc., signed " White 
Caps," which, if not heeded, are followed 
by visits to offending citizens, when the 
callers, generally in fantastic costumes, 
"white caps" and masks, whip or other- 
wise assault, and sometimes murder their 
victims. One of the more frequent mis- 
sions of White Caps at the South is to kill 
or drive away witnesses against illicit whis- 
key distillers. In some of the mountain 
counties of Georgia and other States these 
organizations have been so strong as to 
defy the courts and maintain a reign of 
terror for years. 



INDEX 



TO MAPS, PLATES AND OTHER GRAPHIC CHARTS, TO STATISTICAL EXHIBITS, AND TO GENEALOGICAL 

OR FAMILY TREES OF SECRET SOCIETIES. 

PAGE 

Genealogical or Family Tree of Secret Societies . .- vii 

Chart showing Relative Size of Leading International Secret Societies . . . xvii 

Chart showing Similarities, Contrasts, or Relationships of the English, the Ancient 

Accepted Scottish and the American Masonic Rites xxiv 

Chart showing the Spread of Freemasonry from England throughout the World . . 24 

Chart showing the Relative Membership of Leading, Living Masonic Rites ... 31 

Chart showing the Regular and Irregular or Spurious Supreme Councils, Ancient Ac- 
cepted Scottish Rite, in the United States 49 

Chart showing the Succession of Authority among the Original Chiefs of " Scottish " 
Freemasonry, and among the Earlier Possessors of the 33d Degree, Ancient Ac- 
cepted Scottish Rite 50 

Map of the World showing, in Black, the Countries in which Freemasonry has an Organ- 
ized Existence 89 

Geographical Distribution of Membership of Eleven International Secret Societies . 91,92 

Graphic Chart showing the Relative Masonic Membership in Various Countries . . 93 

Statistics of Membership of, and of Amount of Claims Paid by, Ninety-four Fraternal 

Orders in 1897 113, 114 

Statistics of Total Membership, by States and Territories, of Twenty-six of the Lead- 
ing Secret Societies in the United States, together with Summaries of Totals for 
Foreign Countries (inset opposite) 114 

Special Reports to the Cyclopaedia of Fraternities, by Leading Fraternal Orders, 

Showing Cost of Protection under Various Systems Employed . . . .117, 121 

Map showing the Rank of Four Secret Societies, in Each State and Territory, which 

have a Larger Membership there than like Organizations 119 

Charts showing the Relationship of the English, American and Canadian Orders of For- 
esters 127 

Chart showing the Larger and More Prominent English and American Orders of Odd 

Fellows 249 

Chart showing the Leading Societies into which Ancient English Odd Fellowship is 

Divided 253 

Chart showing Relative Size of Twenty-four Secret Societies in the United States . 289 

Family Tree of Leading Patriotic and Political Secret Societies 291 

Genealogical Chart of Earlier Chapters of Phi Beta Kappa and the General Greek- 
Letter Fraternities immediately following them • . . 339 

Genealogical Chart of General Greek-Letter College Fraternities 345 

Chart showing the Origin or Inspiration of Leading Labor and Railway Secret Organi- 
zations 381 

Chart showing Relationships of Various Temperance Secret Societies .... 403 



INDEX TO TITLES OF ORGANIZATIONS 

{The location of the leading article on each topic isindicated by full-faced figures.] 



Abraham, Independent Or- 
der, Sons of, 120, 121, 210. 

Acorn, Colonial Order of the. 
372. 

Adam, Sons of. 283. 

^Egis. Order of, 200. 

Agriculturists' National Pro- 
tective Association, 378, 

Ahavas Israel. 113. 206, 210. 
Alfredians, Order of, 171. 
Aloyau, Societe d*. 38. 
Alpha Beta Tau. 338. 347. 
Alpha Chi Omega. 337, 347. 
Alpha Delta Phi. 15. 179, 238, 

330. 331, 333, 334. 335. 336, 

340, 343. 340. 347, 349, 350, 

352. 358, 361. 
Alpha Phi. 337. 348. 
Alpha Sigma Chi. 349. 
Alpha Sigma Phi. 342. 
Alpha Sigma Pi. 341. 348. 
Alpha Sigma Theta, 343. 349. 
Alpha Tau Omega, 330, 335, 

349, 363. 
Altrurian Order of Mysteries, 

Amaranth, Order of. 97, 102. 
America. Brotherhood of. 300. 
America. Daughters of. 301, 

315. 
America, Knights and Ladies 

of, 199. 
America. Patriotic Daughters 

of. 318, 319. 320. 
America. Patriotic Order, 

Juuior Sons of, 294, 303, 319, 

320. 321. 
America. Patriotic Order, 

Sons of, 115. 116, 318, 319, 

320. 321. 326, 382. 
America. Patriotic Order, 

United Sons of, 290. 291. 

294. 299, 300, 301. 303. 305, 

306, 307. 315. 318. 319. 320, 

321. 324. 326. 

America. Protestant Knights 
of. 315. 310. 322. 

America. Sons and Daughters 
of. 205. 

America. United Order of, 
192. 

American Brethren. 327. 

American Brotherhood, 292, 
317. 

American Institutions. So- 
ciety for Protection of, 297. 

American Knights, 290, 292, 
294, 419. 

American Patriotic League, 
290, 21)1. 293, 294. 296, 301, 
315, 31S. 322. 325. 327. 

American Protective Associ- 
ation ("A. P. A."), 115, 
290, 291, 292. 293, 294, 299, 
301. 302. 303, 305, 307, 308, 
310, 315, 316. 31S, 321. 324, 
327. 

American Protective Associ- 
ation. Junior, 298. 302. 

American Shield, Order of 
the, 317. 

American Star Order. 206. 

American Union, Order of 
the. 115. 

Americans, Ancient Order of 
Loyal. 299. 

Americans, Order of. 291. 

Americans, Order of Free and 
Accepted, 290, 291, 294, 301, 
317. 



Americans. Order of Native, 

290, 294. 310. 
Americans. Order of United, 

290, 291, 292, 294, 304. 305, 

306, 317. 
Americans, Order of United 

(2d), 318. 
Americans. Patriotic Order of 

True. 318. 319. 320. 
Americans. Patriotic Order of 

Cuited. 303. 
Amitie. Order of, 171. 
Arcadia. Monks of. 265. 275. 
"Armenian Race. National 

League of the. in America. 

420. 
Artisans' Order of Mutual 

Protection. 113. 117. 164, 

229. 
Atlantic Self Endowment As- 
sociation of America. 130. 
Aurora, Knights of. 145. 
Ayrian Order of St. George of 

the Holy Roman Empire in 

the Colonies of America, 

372. 
Azar. Knights and Ladies of, 

141. 
Aztec Club. 371. 

Bektash. The, 2. 4. 

Benefit Society. American. 
113. 122. 

Benevolent Association, 
American. 113, 197. 

Benevolent Association, La- 
dies' Catholic. 114. 

Benevolent Legion. Amer- 
ican. 122. 

Benevolent Legion, Catholic, 
116. 117. 213. 

Benevolent Legion. Catholic 
Women's. 118,120. 121. 216. 

Benevolent Union. 197. 

Benevolent Union. American, 
197. 

Benevolent Union, Catholic, 
113. 

Benevolent Union, Irish 
Catholic. 216. 

Benevolent Union. Order of 
the. 201. 

Ben Hur, Supreme Tribe of, 
113. 165, 190. 

Benjamin, Independent Or- 
der, Sons of, 120. 121, 206, 
210. 

Bereans. Benevolent Order 
of. 300. 

Berzelius. 342. 349. 

Beta Sigma Omicron. 338. 349. 

Beta Theta Pi, 178, 179. 330. 
331, 334. 335. 336. 337. 346, 
347. 34S. 349, 350. 358. 362. 

Bethlehem. Knights of. 183. 

Big Four Fraternal Life As- 
sociation. 130. 

Birmingham. Knights of. 145. 

Black Flags. 68. 

Black Knights. Order of the, 
175. 

Blue Cross. Knights of the, 
of the World. 148. 

B'nai B'rith, Improved Order 
of. 206. 

B'nai B*rith. Independent Or- 
der, 90, 91, 92, 93, 113. 120, 
121, 206. 207, 209. 

Bohemian C. C. U., 113. 

Bohemian Slavonian Knights 
and Ladies, 113. 



Bricklayers and Masons' In- 
ternational Union of Amer- 
ica, 380. 

B'rith Abraham. Independent 
Order of. 206. 209. 210. 

Brotherhood, Colored Con- 
solidated. 131. 

Brotherhood. Knights of the, 
148. 

Brotherhood of the Union, 
113. 

Brotherhood. The. 400. 

Buckshots. The. 424. 

Bucktails. The. 325. 

Buffaloes. Benevolent Order 
of. 229. 230. 

Builders. New Order of. 388. 

'•Button Gang." 422,425. 

Camorra. The. 422. 
Carbonari. The. 422. 
Catholic Knights of America, 

113, 214. 
Catholic Knights of Illinois, 

214. 
Catholic Knights of Wiscon- 
sin, 113. 
Catholics. American Order of 

United. 292. 
Cedars of Lebanon. Tall. 104. 
Chi Delta Theta. 333. 336, 350. 
Chi Phi. 330, 3:34. 335. 336, 

350. 
Chi Psi, 330. 331. 334, 335. 336, 

346. 348. 351. 
Cincinnati, Daughters of the, 

372. 
Cincinnati. Society of the, 

241,311. 325. 370. 372. 373. 
Circle of Honor. 419. 
Circle. Order of the American 

Fraternal. 171. 
Clan-na-Gael. 10.413,415,416, 

420. 421. 
College Fraternities, 178, 179, 

328, 347. 348, 349, 350, 351, 

363, 354, 3S6, 356. 357,- 358, 

359, 360. 362. 363. 864, 382. 
-Colonial Dames of America, 

National Society of. 371. 
Colonial Dames of America, 

Society of. 372. 
Colonial Wars. Society of, 

372. 
Columbia, Daughters of, 293, 

301, 315. 
Columbia. Knights of. 146. 

161. 
Columbian Knights, Supreme 

Lodge, Order of, 114. 
Columbian League, 131. 
Columbus. Catholic Knights, 

of. 114. 120. 216, 322. 
Columbus Mutual Benefit As- 
sociation, 197. 
Comforting Sisters, 112. 
Commercial Travelers. Order 

of United, cf America. 120. 

121, 183. 
Commonwealth of Jesus, 384. 
Companionage, The. 18, 22. 
Constitutional Reform Club, 

298, 301. 
Continental Fraternal Union, 

Order of the. 120. 121. 201. 
Covenant. The, 102. 
Craftsmen. Modern Order of, 

199 
Crescents, The, 290. 291, 294, 

296. 301. 
Crowned Republic, 384. 



Damon. Knights of, 422. 

Danish Brotherhood of Amer- 
ica, 131. 

David and Jonathan, Order 
of, 103. 

Delta Beta Xi. 343, 351. 

Delta Delta Delta, 338. 351. 

Delta Gamma, 337. 351. 

Delta Kappa. 342. 351. 

Delta Kappa Epsilon, 330, 

334, 335, 336, 340. 343, 344, 
346, 347. 348, 351, 361, 362. 

Delta Phi, 15. 179, 238, 330, 
333, 334, 335, 336, 346, 353, 
355. 360,361. 

Delta Psi, 330, 334. 335, 336, 
341. 346. 353. 

Delta Psi (2d). 353. 

Delta Tau Delta, 330, 334, 

335. 336. 353. 358. 

Delta Upsilon. 330. 331. 354. 
Deputies. United Order of, 

318, 327. 
Dickey Club. 352. 
Do Nothing Association, 68. 
"Druids, American Order of, 

123. 
Druids, Ancient Order of, 15, 

21.32,250,284. 
Druids, United Ancient Order 

of, 90, 91, 92, 93, 112, 113, 

120, 121, 122. 123, 177, 211, 

212. 224. 225. 283, 284, 307, 

314, 346, 382, 410. 

-Eastern Star, Ancient and 
Honorable Order of the. 99. 

Eastern Star Benevolent 
Fund of America, 131, 
183. 

Eastern Star, Order of the, 
97.98, 101. 

Eclectic. Assembly, 197. 

Eleusis. Society of. 102. 

Elks, Benevolent and Pro- 
tective Order of. 97, 185, 
229, 231. 274, 2S4. 302. 

Empire Knights of Relief, 
117. 131, 161. 164. 

Equitable Aid Union, 132, 161, 
164. 185. 

Equitable League of Amer- 
ica. 132. 

Equity. Order of. 200. 

Equity, United Order of, 205. 

E-soter-ists of the West, 17. 

Essenic Order, Ancient, 221. 

Eta Phi, 343, 354. 

Farmers' Alliance, National, 

303, 304. 378. 385, 397. 
Farmers' Alliance. National: 

National Aid Degree. 385, 

386. 
Father Mathew, Knights of. 

114. 217. 
Felicitaires, Ordre des, 99. 
Fenian Brotherhood, 10, 413, 

415, 416, 420. 
Fidelity League, Modern 

Knights. 157. 
Fireside, Knights and Ladies 

of the, 114. 144. 
Fishermen of Galilee, 195. 
Flint Glass Workers' Union, 

American. 378, 384. 
Foreign Wars. Military Order 

of, 371. 
„ Foresters, Ancient Order of. 

32, 90, 91, 92, 183, 195, 211, 

221, 229, 231, 233, 234, 251, 



430 



INDEX TO TITLES OF ORGANIZATIONS 



252, 254, 282, 283, 285, 286, 
287, 307, 346, 403, 407, 410. 
Foresters, Ancient Order of, 
(in America), 112, 113, 120, 
121, 122, 124, 126, 130, 139, 
147, 152, 179. 
Foresters, Canadian Order 
of. 113, 121, 130, 140, 153, 
217, 223, 234. 
Foresters, Catholic Order of, 

113, 120, 141, 234. 
Foresters, Catholic Order of, 

of Illinois, 215, 21?, 223. 
Foresters: Companions of the 
Forest, 126, 129, 139, 151, 
231, 234, 410. 
-"Foresters, Female, 112. 
Foresters : Glenwood Degree, 

134, 139, 140. 
Foresters, Independent Order 
of, 113, 114, 116, 117, 130, 
131, 134, 138, 143, 157, 164, 
192, 193. 215, 223, 234. 
Foresters, Independent Order 

of (Negro), 224. 
Foresters, Independent Order 
of Illinois, 113, 130, 134, 139, 
140, 153, 157, 215, 217, 223, , 
234. 
Foresters, Irish National 

Order of, 223, 234, 262. 
Foresters, Junior, of America, 

234, 262. 
Foresters, Juvenile, 234, 262. 
Foresters : Knights of St. 

Rose, 217. 
Foresters : Knights of the 
Sherwood Forest, 139, 233, 
274. 
Foresters. Massachusetts 
Catholic Order of, 140, 215, 
217, 223. 
Foresters : Miriam Degree, 

139, 140, 157. 

Foresters of America, 115, 
116, 120, 121, 129, 130, 139, 
151, 177, 179, 184, 217, 223, 
224, 225, 229, 231, 233, 251, 
262, 274, 282, 285. 289, 316. 

Foresters, Pennsylvania 
Order of, 184, 223. 

Foresters, Royal Order of, 
183. 222, 224, 250, 251, 252, 
281. 

Foresters, United Order of, 

140, 192, 223. 234. 
Foresters. Women's Catholic 

Order of, 114. 

Founders andPatriots, Orders 
of, 371. 

Fraternal Aid Association, 
113, 132, 164. 

Fraternal Alliance, 113. 

Fraternal Association of 
America. 198. 

Fraternal Circle, Order of the, 
202. 

Fraternal Guild, 198. 

Fraternal Legion, 113, 133, 
164. 

Fraternal Mystic Circle, Su- 
preme Ruling, 113, 114, 117, 
123, 133, 164. 

Fraternal Order, Modern As- 
sociation, 120, 121, 157. 

Fraternal Order of Protectors, 
134. 

Fraternal Orders, 112. 

Fraternal Tribunes, 113, 120, 
121, 134. 

Fraternal Union of America, 
113, 134. 

Freemasonry, 1, 4, 5, 6, 8, 17, 
69-90, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 103, 
104, 111, 114, 115, 116, 122, 
123, 124, 125, 128, 132, 133, 
134, 135, 136, 141, 143, 145, 
146, 148, 149, 153, 156, 157, 
159, 168, 169, 172, 173, 176, 
177, 178, 179, 181, 183, 184, 
186, 188, 189, 193, 195, 197, 
198, 199, 200, 201, 203, 204, 
206, 208, 209, 210, 211, 212, 



218, 219, 220, 221, 222, 224, 
230, 231, 232, 235, 238, 241, 
242, 244, 245, 247, 248, 250, 
251, 252, 256, 257, 258, 259, 
261, 262, 264, 265, 266, 267, 
268, 273, 274, 275, 276, 277, 
278, 281, 282, 283, 284, 285, 
288, 302, 304, 307, 308, 315, 
317, 323, 331, 332, 336, 346, 
347, 353, 360, 364, 367, 370, 
375, 382, 383, 390, 395, 396, 
397, 400, 403, 408, 410, 412, 
413. 
Freemasonry : American Rite, 

32. 
Freemasonry among the 

Chinese, 67. 
Freemasonry among the 

Mormons, 70. 
Freemasonry among Ne- 
groes, 72, 116. 
Freemasonry : Ancient Ac- 
cepted Scottish Rite, 43. 
Freemasonry : Anti-Masonry, 

8, 22. 
Freemasonry : Distinguished 

Americans. 94. 
Freemasonry : Masonic Direc- 
tory, 55. 
Freemasonry: Order of 
r Knights of Rome, and of 
the Red Cross of Constan- 
tine, 80, 268, 276. 
Freemasonry : Rite of Mem- 
phis, 30, 78, 268, 346. 
Freemasonry : Rite of Mis- 

raim, 32, 78, 268, 346. 
Freemasonry : Rosicrucians, 

Society of Modern, 86. 
Freemasonry: Roval Order of 

Scotland, 87. 
Freemasonry : Sovereign Col- 
lege of Allied Masonic and 
Christian Degrees for 
America, 103. 
Freemasonry, Statistics of, 

90. 
Freemen. Order of American, 

290, 291, 294, 299. 
Freesmiths, Ancient Order of, 

6, 7. 8. 
Freischmiede,Alte Ordender, 

6. 
Friendly Fellows, Fraternity 

of, 134. 
Friends, Canadian Order of 

Chosen, 130, 174. 
Friends, Independent Order 

of Chosen. 138. 
Friends. Order of Chosen, 

113, 117, 138, 1(>4. 171, 173, 
181, 184, 189, 192, 199. 

Friends, Order of Select, 117, 

118, 165. 181. 
Friends, Order of True, 183. 
Friends. Order of United. 114, 

116, 117. 161. 164, 169, 173, 

184, 400. 
Friends, United, of Michigan, 

114, 173, 192. 
Friendship, Actors' Order of, 

120, 121, 122, 218. 

Friendship. Knights of. 288. 

Friendship. Order of Knights 
of. 277. 

Friendship, Sisters of, 288. 

Friendship, United Brothers 
of, 288. 

Friendship, United Brothers 
of and Sisters of the Mys- 
terious Ten, 288. 

Galilean Fishermen, Grand 

United Order of, 235. 
Gamma Nu, 343, 354. 
Gamma Phi Beta, 338, 354. 
Gardeners, Ancient Order, 

195. 
Gardeners, Ancient Order of 

Free, 307. 
Gardeners, Ancient Order of 

Free, Lancashire Union, 

250, 254. 



Gardeners, Ancient Order of 

Free, Yorkshire Union, 254. 
Gardeners, British Order of 

Free, 254. 
Gardeners, Grand National 

Order of Free, 254. 
Gardeners, Loyal Order of 

Free, 254. 
Gardeners, National United 

Order of Free, 252. 
Gardeners. Scotch Order of 

Free, 254. 
Gardeners, United Order of 

Free, 254. 
Genii of Nations. Knowl- 
edges and Religions, 96. 
Gleaners, Ancient Order of, 

128. 
Globe, Daughters of the, 131, 

148. 
Globe, Knights of the, 131, 

148. 
Globe Mutual Benefit Associ- 
ation, Knights of the, 148. 
Gnostics, The, 21, 22. 
Golden Band. Circle of the, 

131, 184. 
Golden Chain, Knights of the, 

164, 292. 
Golden Chain, Order of, 117, 

175. 
Golden Circle, Knights of the, 

316, 418, 419. 
Golden Cross, United Order, 

113, 117, 122, 161, 165, 169, 
181, 193, 412. 

Golden Eagle. Knights of the, 

114, 115, 120, 121. 148, 156. 
Golden Eagle, Ladies of the, 

151, 154. 
Golden Fleece. Ancient Grand 

United Order. 251. 
Golden Fleece. Ancient Order 

of, 159. 
Golden Fleece, Ancient Or- 
der. Bradford Unity. 251. 
Golden Fleece. Independent 

Order of, 251. 
Golden Lily Hui, 68. 
Golden Links of the World, 

Knights of. 262. 
Golden Precept, Knights and 

Ladies of the. 144. 
Golden Rod, Order of the, 

202, 204. 
Golden Rule Alliance, 135, 

184, 187. 
Golden Rule, Knights and 

Ladies of the, 144. 
Golden Rule, Knights of the, 

144, 161, 174. 

Golden Star Fraternity, 113, 
120, 121. 135. 

Golden Star, Knights and La- 
dies of the, 114. 116, 117, 

145, 164, 403. 

Good Fellows, Royal Society 
of. 113, 117, 122, 164, 169, 
188, 191. 

Good Samaritans, Grand 
United Order of, 402. 

Good Samaritans, Independ- 
ent Order of, 402, 403. 
..Good Samaritans, Independ- 
ent Order of, and Daughters 
of Samaria, 402. 

Good Templars, 402, 403. 

Good Templars, Independent 
Order of. 90, 91, 92, 115, 116, 
122, 296, 382, 403, 408. 

Gophers. Ancient Order of, 
365, 375. 

Gormogons, August and No- 
ble Order of, 9. 

Grand Army of Progress, Ad- 
vance Guard of America, or 
the. 365, 366. 

Grand Army of the Republic, 
11, 115. 116, 148, 191, 201, 
214, 365, 371.374, 375, 376, 
377. 

Grand Army of the Republic, 
Ladies of the, National Or- 



der, 369. 371. 374, 375, 376, 
377. 

Grand Army of the Republic, 
Relief Corps, Women's Na- 
tional, 369, 371, 374, 375, 376, 
377. 

Grand Orient, Order of the, 
395. 

Grange, The National, 310, 
395, 396, 397, 398. 

Granite League, 135. 

Guild, American, 113. 

Harugari, German Order of, 
209, 234. 

Heaven, Earth, and Man, So- 
ciety of, 68. 

He Boule. 343, 354. 

Helpers, Order of Fraternal, 
174. 

Helping Hand, Order of the, 
202. 

Heptasophs, Improved Order 
of, 113, 116, 117, 122, 134, 
137, 147, 164, 180. 

Heptasophs, Order of, or 
Seven Wise Men, 137, 138, 
147, 151, 173, 175, 176, 334, 
335, 349, 354, 356, 364. 

•Hermann. Daughters of, 232, 
284. 

Hermann, Sons of, 232, 282. 

Hermann's Sons of Wiscon- 
sin, 113. 

Hibernians, Ancient Order of, 

' 15, 90, 91, 92, 93, 115, 120, 

121, 122, 211, 313, 346, 382, 

423, 424. 425. 

—Hibernians. Ancient Order 

of : Daughters of Erin, 212. 

Highbinders, The, 69. 

Historical Society, Women's, 
298, 315. 327. 

Home Builders, Order of, 201. 

Home Circle, 113, 114, 116, 
117, 135, 161, 164, 184. 

Home Forum Benefit Order, 
113, 136. 

Home Palladium, 137. 

Honor, American Legion of, 
113, 116, 117, 118, 122, 123, 
141, 148, 157, 163. 171, 176, 
186, 187, 189, 193, 194, 199,. 
204, 213. 

Honor, Colored Brotherhood 
and Sisterhood of, 131. 

Honor, Iowa Legion of, 117, 
123, 141, 164, 187, 195. 

Honor, Knights and Ladies 
of, 114, 115, 120, 121, 142, 
147, 156, 169. 

Honor, Knights and Ladies 
of: Order of Protection, 147. 

Honor, Knights of, 114, 115, 
116, 117, 122, 123. 135, 142, 
143, 144, 146, 156, 160, 161, 
164, 168, 169, 174, 175, 186, 
188, 189, 191, 193, 199, 201. 

Honor, Knights of, of the 
World, 147. 

Honor, Legion of, 114. 

Honor, National Temple of, 
411. 

Honor, Northwestern Legion 
of, 114, 123. 170, 187. 

Honor, Sons of, 409, 410. 

Honor, Supreme Court of, 
114. 

Honor, United Order of, 161. 

Hoo-Hoo, Concatenated Or- 
der of, 231. 

Hope, Daughters of, 131. 

Hope, United Order of, 193. 

Humility, Oriental Order of, 
279. 

Hung League, 68, 69. 

I. C. Sorosis, 337. 
Idle Rest, Sons of, 284. 
I. K. A., 334, 338, 354. 
Illuminati, Society of, 102. 
Illuminati, Weishaupt's, 344,, 



INDEX TO TITLES OF ORGANIZATIONS 



431 



Immaculates, Independent 
Order of, of the U. S. A.. 141. 

Imperial Legion. 137. 

Indian Republican League. 
292, 301, 316. 

Industrial Army, 415. 

Industrial Benefit Order. 198. 

Industry. Independent Chev- 
aliers and Ladies of. 138. 

Industry, Patrons of, (2d). 399. 

Inner Circle, Knights of the, 
413, 420. 

Insurance Union. American, 
120, 121, 123. 

Insurance Union. American 
Fraternal. 122. 

International Fraternal Alli- 
ance, 192. 197. 198. 202. 

••International, The," 389, 
400. 

Iris. Sons of. 354. 

Irish Republican Brother- 
hood, 413, 416. 

Iron and Steel Workers. Na- 
tional Union of. 378, 384, 
388. 

Iron and Steel Workers of the 
United States. Amalgam- 
ated Association of. 378, 384. 
388. 

Iron Brotherhood, 416. 

Iron Hall of Baltimore. 198, 
202. 

Iron Hall, Order of the, 198, 
201, 202. 

Iroquois, Order of, 120, 121, 
180. 

Isis, Temple of. 104. 

Israel. Independent Order, 
Free Sons of, 113, 120, 121, 
206, 208, 209. 

Israel, Sons and Daughters 
of, 282. 

Israelites, Independent Order 
of American. 206, 209. 

Jericho, Heroine of. 100, 308. 
Jericho, Knights of. 402. H 13, 

404, 408. 
Jerusalem. Ancient Order 

Knights of, 229. 
Jerusalem, Ancient Order of 

Daughters of. 229. 
Jesuits. Society of. 12. 
Jolly Corks, The, 229, 230. 
Joseph, Royal Tribe of, 114, 

188. 
Jonadab, Sons of. 406. 409, 

412. 
Judah. Independent Order, 

Free Sons of. 209. 

Kabbalists. The. 21. 22. 
Kappa Alpha. 15, 179, 238. 330, 

333. 335. 336. 346. 347. 354, 

360, 363. 
Kappa Alpha, (South'). 330, 

335. 355. 
Kappa Alpha Theta. 337, 355. 
Kappa Kappa Gamma. 337. 

355. 
Kappa Kappa Kappa. 341. 355. 
Kappa Sigma. 330. 335. 355, 

35S. 
Kappa Sigma Epsilon. 342. 

356. 
Kappa Siizma Phi. 343. 356. 
Kesher Shel Barzel, 209. 
Kin Hassan. Dramatic Order 

of Knights of. 232, 266. 284. 
Kickapoo Association. Ami- 
cable. 242. 
King David, Royal Knights 

of," 187. 
Kirjaith Sepher. 355. 
Know Nothing Party, 283, 

290, 291, 292. 293. 294. 298, 

299, 300. 301. 304, 310, 311, 

315, 317, 319, 320, 321, 324, 

326. 327, 331, 419. 
Kolao Hui, 68, 69. 
Ku Klux Klan, 282, 316, 367, 

416, 420, 421. 



Labor, American Federation 

of. 378. 380. 394. 
Labor. Brotherhood of Uni- 
ted, 384. 394. 
Labor. Improved Order of 

Advanced Knights of. 384, 

393. 
Labor. Independent Order of 

Knights of. 384, 394. 
Labor. Knights of, 422, 425, 

426. 
Labor. Noble and Holy Order 

of Knights, of America. 

388, 389. 
Labor. Order of Knights of, 

10. 11. 123. 310. 378. 379. 380. 

3S3, 3S4. 385. 388, 399, 400, 

401. 416. 426. 
Labor. Provisional Order 

Knights of. 399. 
Ladies of Abraham Lincoln. 

306, 309. 
Lady True Blues of the 

World. 306, 308. 309. 
Lambda Iota. 340. 356. 
Liberty. Daughters of. 298, 

301. 315. 316. 410. 
Liberty. Guards of. 290. 291, 

294. 301. 
Libertv. Kniahts of. 198. 262. 
Liberty. Sons of. 238, 239. 240, 

241. 242. 291. 202. 29s. 308, 

311. 316. 319. 323, 324. 325. 

419. 
Liberty. Sons of. (2d). 325, 

326. 
Liberty, Templars of. 290, 

291, 294. 315. 324. 327. 
Libertv. Templars of. (2d). 

189 
Light of the Ages. 156. 
Locomotive Engineers. Bro- 
therhood of. 879, 380 

383, 384, 394, loo. 
Locomotive Firemen. Bro- 
therhood of. 121. 37 0. 880, 

882, 383. 
Lone Star. Order of the. 419. 
Loval Additional Bene; 

s'ociation. 114. 156. 161. 187. 
Loyal Circle. 156. 
Loval Guard. Knights of the, 

151. 164. 
Loval Knights and Ladies. 

120, 121. 143. 156. 
Loyal Knights of America. 

291, 299, 3o2. 306. 
Loyal Ladies' League, 369, 

37 1. 
Loval Legion, Military Order 

of the. of the United States. 

365. 371. 372, 376. 
Loyal Men of American Lib- 
erty. 291, 292. 294, 306. 
Loyal Women of American 

Libertv. 290, 806, 315. 
Low German G. L. of U. S. of 

N. A.. 114. 
Luxor. Hermetic Brothers of, 

97. 

Maccabees. Knights of the, 
114. 115. 116. 117. 118, 133, 
140. 151, 1.54. 155. 159. 161, 
164. 1S5. 202. 296. 

Maccabees. Ladies of the, 
114. 154. 

Machinists. International As- 
sociation of. 384. 

Mafia. The. 422. 

Magi, Order of the. 101. 

Maitre Jacques, Sons of. is. 

Malta, Ancient and Illustri- 
ous Order. Knights of. 115. 
120, 121. 218, 267. 273. 274. 
276. 277. 2S1. 296. 307. 

Malta. Ancient and Illustri- 
ous Order. Knights of: 
Dames of Malta. 221. 

Malta. Ancient and Illustri- 
ous Order. Knights of: 
Daughters of Malta. 221. 

Malta, Brethren Hospitalers 



of St. John the Baptist of 
Jerusalem. 230, 269. 

Malta. Grand Black Lodge of 
Scotland, 275. 

Malta. Imperial Parent Grand 
Black Encampment of the 
Universe, 41, 218. 273, 275, 
276. 

Malta. Knights of, 270. 

Malta. Knights Hospitalers or 
-" St. John. 272. 273. 

Malta: Knights of Cvprus. 
262, 270. 

Malta : Knights of St. John, 
272. 

Malta. Knights of St. John 
and. 114. 218. 220. 266, 281, 
307. 

Malra. Knights of St. John 
of Jerusalem. Rhodes. Pal- 
estine and. 219. 220. 230. 262, 
266, 267. 268, 274. 276, 277, 
346. 

Malta: Non-Masonic Orders 
of. 218. 220. 266, 267, 268, 
274, 2-1. 

Malta: Order of Hospitalers, 
277. 

Malta: Order of St. John. 268, 
270. 

Malta, Royal Black Associa- 
tion of Knights of. 274. 281. 

Malta. Sons of. 882, 284, 417. 

Malta. United Military and 
Religious Orders of the 
Temple, of St. John of Je- 
rusalem. Palestine, Rhodes 
and. 274. 275. 276. 

Marshall Temperance Frater- 
nitv. 408, 411. 

Marshall Temple No. 1. Sons 
of Honor. 411. 

Marshall Temple of Honor. 
No. 1. Sons of Temperance. 
408, 112. 

Martinists. Order of. 98. 

Masonic Protective Associa- 
tion. 114. 

Mayflower Descendants. So- 
ciety of. 372. 

Mechanics, Independent Or- 
der of. 120. 121. 141. 

Mechanics. Junior Order of 
United American. 115. 116. 
120. 121. 131. 141. 199. 290, 
291. 292, 291. 297. 300. 301, 
302, 3H5. 306. 307. 308, 315. 
316. 319. 321. 3-2. 

Mechanics. Order of United 
American. 115. 141. 161.239. 
2-3. 890, 291. 292, 29:1 294, 
298, 299, 300. 301. 302. 303. 
3o5. 306, 311, 317. 318. 319. 
321. 320. 382. 

Mechanics' Union. American, 
314. 

Melchizedek. Fifth Order of, 
and Egyptian Sphinx. 96. 

Mighty Host. Knights of the. 
119.' 

Militarv and Ancestral Or- 
ders. 369. 

Minute Men, 318. 

Minute Men of '90. 310. 

Minute Men of '96. 310. 

Mogribins, The. 1. 

Mogullians. Order of. 129, 
174. 

Molly Maguires. 212. 279. 423. 

Moose. Loyal Order of. of 
theW T orld. 274. 

Muscovites. Imperial Order 
of. 253. 261. 

Mules. Order of. 421. 

Mutual Aid. Illinois Order of. 
141. 

Mutual Aid. Independent Or- 
der. 114. 

Mutual Aid. Order of. 144. 
174. 

Mutual Benefit Association, 
Catholic. 113, 120, 121, 
215. 



Mutual Protection League 

(New Mexico). 422. 425. 
Mutual Protection. Order of, 

114. 117. 164, 174. 
Mutual Protection Society, 

419, 421. 
Mysteries. Adoniac, 21. 
Mysteries. Cabiric. 21. 
Mysteries. Egyptian. 21. 
Mysteries. Ereusian, 21. 
Mysteries. Grecian. 21. 
Mysteries. Mithraic. 21. 
Mysteries, Persian. 21. 
Mysteries. Syriac. 21. 
Mysterious Ten. Sisters of 

the. 288. 
Mystic Brotherhood. Order 

of the. 395. 
Mystic Brothers, Independ- 
ent Order. 247. 
Mystic Chain. Ancient Order: 

Daughters of Ruth. 125. 
Mystic Chain. Ancient Order: 

Degree of Naomi. 125. 
Mystic Chain. Ancient Order, 

Knights of the. 124. 
Mystic Legion of America. 

Loval. 114. 
Mvstic Shrine, Ancient Ara- 
bic Order. Nobles of the, 

1, 232. 261. 
Mvstic Shrine. Ancient Arabic 

Order of Nobles, North and 

South America (negro), 6. 
Mystic Shrine : Daughters of 

Isis. 3. 
Mvstic Shrine (negro): 

Daughters of the Pyramid, 

6. 
Mvstic Star, Order of the. 101. 
M ysl ic Workers of the World. 

114, 120, 121,159. 
Mystical Seven. 16. 178, 179, 

334. 335, 341. 346, 349, 354, 

356, 301. 

National Aid Association, 

117. 
National Aid Degree, 385. 386. 
National Benevolent Society, 

114. 
National Dotare, 199, 202. 204. 
National Fraternal Congress, 

113, 116, US, 120, 160. 
National Fraternal Union, 

200. 
National Fraternity. 120, 121. 

167. 
National Protective Legion, 

114. 200. 

National Protective Society, 

120. 121. 122. 
National Provident Union, 

114, 116, 117, 164,167. 
National Keserve Associa- 
tion. 114. 117, 118. 164, 168. 
National Union. 114, 116, 117, 

US. 123. 157. 164, 168, 169, 

185, 2.i2. 200. 
Native Sons of America, 290, 

291. 204. 310, 315. 
Native Sons of the Golden 

West, 169. 
Naval Order of the United 

states. 371. 
Nazarites, Grand United 

Order of, 235. 
New England Order of Pro- 
tection, 114, 117, 164, 169. 
New Jersey Loyal Ladies' 

League, 374. 
New "Life, Brotherhood of 

the, 16. 
Noah, Sons of, 103. 
North American Union. 114, 

170. 
Nu Sigma Nn, 337. 356. 

Odd Fellows, Albion Order, 

250. 253. 
Odd Fellows, Ancient and 

Honorable Order of, 248, 

253. 



432 



INDEX TO TITLES OF ORGANIZATIONS 



Odd Fellows, Ancient Inde- 
pendent Order, Kent Unity, 
248, 249, 250. 

Odd Fellows, Ancient Inde- 
pendent Order of, 248, 253, 
231. 

Odd Fellows, Ancient Noble 
Order, Bolton Unity, 250, 
253. 

Odd Fellows, Ancient True 
Order of, 250, 253. 

Odd Fellows, Auxiliary 
Order of, 250, 253. 

Odd Fellows, British United 
Order, 250. 

Odd Fellows, Derby Midland 
United Order, 250, 253. 

Odd Fellows, Economical 
Order of. 250, 253. 

Odd Fellows, Enrolled Order 
of, 250, 253. 

Odd Fellows, Free and Inde- 
pendent Order of, 248, 249. 

Odd Fellows, Grand United 
Order of, 90, 91,92, 93,116, 

120, 121, 235, 249, 250, 253, 
281. 287, 289, 307. 

Odd Fellows, Grand United 
Order of: Household 6f 
Ruth, 237, 250, 253. 

Odd Fellows, Handsworth 
Order of, 250, 253. 

Odd Fellows, Ukstone Unity 
Order of, 253. 

Odd Fellows, Improved In- 
dependent Order of, 250, 
253. 

Odd Fellows, Independent 
Order of, 10, 11, 15, 90, 91, 
92, 112, 113, 115, 117, 120, 

121, 122, 123, 124, 129, 132, 
135, 139, 140, 141, 142. 143, 
145, 146, 148, 149, 151. 157, 
168, 169, 172, 173, 174, 177, 
179, 184, 185, 186, 188, 189, 
191, 193, 195, 198, 200, 201, 
204, 206, 208, 211, 212, 219, 
221, 222, 224, 226, 232, 233, 
234, 235, 236, 237, 238, 242, 
244, 245, 247, 263, 265, 278, 
281, 2S2, 283, 285, 238. 304, 
314, 316. 327, 328, 332, 366, 
382. 383, 410, 412. 

Odd Fellows, Independent 
Order of: Daughters Mili- 
tant. 232, 253, 281. 

Odd Fellows, Independent 
Order of : Daughters of Re- 
bekah, 129, 142, 151, 191, 
232, 234, 244, 250, 253, 259, 
260, 281, 410. 

Odd Fellows, Independent 
Order of: Imperial Order of 
Muscovites, 233, 238. 

Odd Fellows, Independent 
Order of: Patriarchs Mili- 
tant. 253. 256, 265. 

Odd Fellows, Independent 
Orderof,Manchester Unity, 
32, 128, 222. 223, 225, 235, 
236, 237, 239, 248, 249. 250, 
251, 252, 253, 254, 256, 257, 
258, 261, 286, 346, 403, 407, 
408. 

Odd Fellows, Kingston Unity 
of, 250, 253. 

Odd Fellows, Leeds United 
Order of, 250, 253. 

Odd Fellows, Leicester Unity 
Order of, 253. 

Odd Fellows, Loyal Union 
Order of, 248, 249, 253, 287. 

Odd Fellows, National Inde- 
pendent Order of, 249, 250, 
253. 

Odd Fellows, Norfolk and 
Norwich Unity, 250, 253. 

Odd Fellows, Nottingham, 
Ancient Imperial Indepen- 
dent Order of, 248, 249, 250, 
253, 281. 

Odd Fellows: "other Orders' 1 
of, 250. 



Odd Fellows, Patriotic Order 
of, 248, 253. 

Odd Fellows, Staffordshire 
Order of, 250, 253. 

Odd Fellows, United Order 
of, 248, 249, 251, 253, 281, 
284. 

Odd Fellows, WestBromwich 
Order of, 250, 253. 

Odd Fellows. Wolverhamp- 
ton Order of, 250, 252. 

Odd Ladies, 174. 

Odd Sisters, 112. 

Old Men, Independent Order 
of, 422. 

Omah Language, Order of 
the, 101. 

Orange Association of British 
North America, Lady, 309. 

Orange Association, Wo- 
men's Loyal, 308, 327. 

Orange Institution, Loyal, 
32, 41, 90, 91, 92, 93,211,218, 
219, 220, 221, 248, 273, 274, 
275, 276, 281, 296, 297, 298, 
299, 306, 322, 327. 

Orange Institution ; Loyal 
Protestant Women of Can- 
ada, 309. 

Orange Institution ; Royal 
Black Knights of the Camp 
of Israel, 296, 308, 322. 

Orange Knights, American, 
296. 

Orangewomen, Loyal, 112. 

Orient, Order of the, 202. 

Orientals, The, 229. 284. 

Osiris, Ancient Order of, 8. 

Owls, Independent Order of, 
97. 

Palladium, Order of the, 101. 

Patriarchal Circle of Amer- 
ica. 131. 184. 

Patriotic League, National 
Assembly, 298, 310, 316. 

Patriotic Orders, The, 290. 

Patriots of America, 292. 301. 
316, 321, 323. 

Patrons of Husbandry, Order 
of, 115, 116. 310, 378, 385, 
386. 387. 388. 395, 399. 

Pendo, Order of, 201. 

Pente, Order of, 201. 

P. E. O., 338, 356. 

People's Favorite Order, 203. 

People's Five-year Benefit 
Order, 203. 

People's Mutual Life Insur- 
ance Order, 203. 

Phi Alpha Sigma. 337, 356. 

Phi Beta Kappa, 16. 238. 331, 
332, 333, 334, 336. 344. 346, 
347, 354, 356, 360. 361. 363. 

Phi Delta Phi. 337, 358. 

Phi Delta Theta, 134, 330, 334. 
335, 33(5, 354. 358. 

Phi Gamma Delta, 330, 334, 

335. 336. 361. 

Phi Kappa Psi, 330. 334, 335. 

336, 353, 359. 

Phi Kappa Sigma, 330, 334, 
335, 360. 

Phi Nn Theta. 341, 360. 

Phi Sigma Kappa, 337, 360. 

Phi Theta Psi, 343, 360. 

Phi Zeta Mu. 342, 360. 

Pi Beta Phi, 337. 360. 

Pi Kappa Alpha, 330, 335, 360. 
.Pilgrim Fathers, United Or- 
der of, 114, 117, 123, 165, 169, 
192, 193. 

Preceptors, Order of, Frater- 
nal, 174. 

Progress, Order of Sons of, 
201. 

Progressive Endowment 
Guild of America. 120, 121, 
203. 

Pro Patria Club, 293, 321. 

Protected Fireside Circle,184. 

Protected Home Circle, 114, 
117, 164, 184. 



Protection, American Knights 
of, 292, 316. 

Protection, Knights and La- 
dies of, 199. 

Protection, Order of, Knights 
and Ladies of Honor, 147. 

Protestant Association, 
American, 290, 291, 294, 296, 
298, 299, 300, 302, 306, 327. 

Protestant Association, 
American Junior, 299, 302, 
306. 

Protestant. Association, 
Atnerican (Negro), 291, 299. 

Protestant Benevolent Asso- 
ciation of New York, 299. 

Protestant Knights, Order of, 
174. 

Provident League of Amer- 
ica, 185. 

Prudent Patricians of Pom- 
peii of the United States of 
America. 120, 121, 185. 

Psi Upsilon, 15, 179, 238, 330, 
334, 335, 336, 340. 343, 344, 
346, 347, 348, 352. 360. 

Purity, Grand United Order, 
Independent Sons and 
Daughters of, 135. 

Pyramids, Ancient Order of 
the, 113, 117, 128, 164. 

Pythian Sisterhood, 265, 266, 
279 

Pythian Sisters, 265, 266, 280, 
281. 

Pythias, Chevaliers of, 230. 

Pythias, Improved Order, 
Knights of, 238. 

Pythias, Knights of, 10, 113, 
114, 115, 116, 120, 121, 123, 
124, 129, 133, 134, 149, 157, 
159, 161, 168, 169, 177, 184, 
195, 198, 199, 200, 201, 203, 
204, 229, 232, 233, 238. 263, 
266, 274, 279, 280, 281, 284, 
292, 302, 304, 316, 400. 

Pythias, Knights of: Khoras- 
san, Dramatic Order of 
Knights of. 232, 266, 284. 

Pythias, Knights of, of North 
and South America.Europe, 
Asia and Africa (Negro), 
224, 266. 

Q. T. V., 337. 362. 

Queen of the South, 97, 102. 

Railway Carmen, Brother- 
hood of, of America, 379, 
330, 383. 

Railway Conductors, Ladies' 
Auxiliary of the Order of, 
394. 

Railway Conductors, Order 
of, of America, 120, 121, 
379, 380, 382, 383. 394, 400. 

Railway Telegraphers, La- 
dies' Auxiliary of the Order 
of, 395. 

Railway Telegraphers, Order 
of, 379, 380, 382, 383, 388, 
394. 

Railway Trainmen, Brother- 
hood of, 379, 380, 3S2. 383, 
395, 399. 

Railway Union, American, 
379, 382. 383, 384, 394, 395, 
400. 

Rainbow Society, or W. W. 
W., 179, 334, 335, 354, 364. 

Rathbone Sisters, 265, 266, 
280. 

Rechab, Encamped Knights 
of, of North America. 402, 
407. 

Rechab, Sons of, 406. 

Rechab.United Daughters of, 
409, 412. 

Rechabites, Independent Or- 
der of, in North America, 
90, 91, 92, 112, 113, 382, 402, 
403, 405, 409, 410. 

Rechabites, Independent Or- 



der of, Salford Unity, 402, 

405, 406, 410. 
Reciprocity, Knights of, 292, 

303, 316. 
Red Cross, Legion of the, 

114, 117, 118, 150, 156, 164. 
Red Cross, Order of and 

Knights of the, 181. 
Red Flags, 68. 
Red Men, improved Order of, 

15, 113, 116, 120, 121, 122, 

134, 141, 169, 177, 179, 181, 

198, 212, 238, 262, 285, 302, 

311, 314, 317, 323, 324, 325, 

326, 327, 346, 382. 
Red Men, Improved Order of: 

Daughters of Pocahontas, 

244, 246. 
Red Men, Independent Order 

of, 115, 245. 262. 
Red Men, Metamora Tribe of, 

262. 
Red Men, Society of, 239, 24.2, 

243, 245, 290, 291, 292, 298, 

311, 319, 323, 324, 325, 326. 
Red School House. Order of 

the Little, 290, 291, 294, 315, 

318,1 325. 
Red, White and Blue. Order 

of the, 292, 322. 
Relief and Beneficiary Asso- 
ciation, Catholic, 113. 
Republic, Daughters of the, 

301, 321. 
Reubens, Order of, 421. 
Revolution. Daughters of the, 

371. 
Revolution, Daughters of the 

American, 371. 
Revolution, Patriotic League 

of the, 290, 291, 294, 306, 

315, 318, 324. 
Revolution, Sons of the 

American, 371. 
Revolution, Sons of the, 371. 
Ribbonmen, The, 423, 424. 
Ridgeby Protective Associ- 
ation. 114. 
Rochester Brotherhood, The, 

111. 
Roman Colleges of Artificers, 

18, 20. 
Romans, Ancient Order of, 

175, 250. 
Round Table. Knights and 

Ladies of the, 145. 
Royal Adelphia, 202, 204. 
Royal Aid Society, 185. 
Royal Arcanum. 114, 115, 116, 

117, 118, 122, 123, 132, 135, 

148. 156, 157, 161, 164, 168, 

169, 176, 181, 185, 186, 188, 

189, 193, 194, 199, 201, 203, 

204, 213, 214, 296, 350. 
Royal Argosy, Order of the, 

202. 
Royal Ark, Order of the, 204. 
Royal Benefit Society, 202. 
Royal Circle. 114. 
Royal Conclave of Knights 

and Ladies, 187. 
Royal Fraternal Guardians, 

187. 
Royal Fraternity, 187. 
Royal League, 114, 117, 118. 

164, 187. 
Royal Neighbors of America. 

114, 159. 
Royal Standard of America, 



S. S. S., Order of the, and 

Brotherhood of the Z. Z. R. 

R. Z. Z., 102. 
St. Andrew's Society, 241. 
St. Anthony Clubs, 353. 
St. Crispin, Daughters of, 

384, 385. 
St. Crispin, Knights of, 384, 

385. 
St. David's Society, 241. 
St. George, Daughters of, 232, 
N 279. 



INDEX TO TITLES OF ORGANIZATIONS 



433 



St. George. Order of Sons of. 

120. 121, 232. 241. 279, 424. 
St. Patrick's Alliance of 

America. 217. 
St. Patrick. Friendly Sons of. 

217. 
Samaria. Daughters of. 402. 
Sanhedrim. Order of tbe. 182. 
Sanhedrims. Ancient Order 

of. 229, 284. 
Scottish Clans. Order of, 114, 

120. 121. 278. 
Scroll and Key. 334. 340. 341, 

346, 362. 
Secret Monitors. Grand Con- 
clave of. 103. 
Security. Knights and Ladies 

of. 114. 117. 118. 143, 164. 
Security Life Association. 194. 
S. E. K.. Order of. 98. 
Select Guardians. Society of. 

205. 
Seven. Mystic Order of. 265, 

274. 
Seven Stars of Consolidation, 

189. 
Seven Wise Men of the 

World. Knights of the. 147. 
'76. Supreme Order Sons of, 

326. 
'76. Order of Sons of. 290, 

304. 315. 320, 324. 326. 
Sexennial Leagne. 201. 204. 
Shepherds, Ancient Order of, 

175, 177. 195. 224. 225. 229. 

233. 250, 251. 282, 307, 410. 
Shepherds. Loyal Ancient 

Order of. 229. 
Shepherds. Loyal Order of, 

251. 
Shepherds. Loyal Order of, 

Ash ton Unity. 252. 
Shepherds of America, 175, 

183, 252. 
Shepherds of Bethlehem, 

Order of. 121. 174, 177. 183, 

252. 
Shepherds. Royal. 282. 
Shepherds, Society of An- 
cient. 252. 
Shield of Honor, 114. 165. 189, 

292. 
Silver Federation, Freemen's 

Protective. 301, 321. 823. 
Silver Knights of America, 

292. 301. 316. 321. 322, 323. 
Silver Ladies of America. 310, 

322. 323. 
Sigma Alpha Epsilon, 330, 

334. 335, 362. 
Sigma Chi. 330. 332, 334. 335, 

336. 358. 362. 
Sigma Chi (2d), 363. 
Sigma Delta Chi, 342, 363. 
Sigma Kappa. 338, 363. 
Sigma Nil. 330, 335, 363. 
Sigma Phi. 15. 179. 288, 330, 

333. 334. 335. 336. 346. 347, 

353, 355, 360, 361, 363. 
Sigma Xi, 336. 337. 
Silver Head, Solar Spiritual 

Progressive Order of the, 

and Golden Star, 96. 
Skull and Bones. 179. 333. 338, 

340. 341. 343. 344. 346. 363. 
Sobriety. Fidelity and Integ- 
rity, knights of. 114. 147. 
Soil, Sons of the. 326. 
Soldiers and Sailors' League, 

366. 374. 
Solid Rock, Order of the, 197, 

198, 201, 202, 203, 205. 

28 



Solomon, Sons of, 18. 
Solon, Order of. 201. 
Soubise, Sons of, 18. 
Sovereign Patriotic Knights, 

Order of, 425. 
Sovereigns of Industry, 399. 
Sparta. Order of, 120, 121, 175, 

204. 
S. P. K., The, 265, 284. 
Star, Templars Order of the 

American. 301, 317. 327- 
Star of Bethlehem : Degree of 

Protection, 142. 
Star of Bethlehem, Knights 

of the, 154, 182. 183. 
Star of Bethlehem, Order of. 

131. 154, 174. 175. 182. 252. 
Star, Order of the American. 

290, 291, 294. 317. 
Star Spangled Banner, Order 

of the, 290. 300. 304. 315, 

319, 320. 324. 326. 
Sufis. Order of the. 102. 
Sun, League of Friendship, 

Supreme Mechanical Order 

of the. 128. 156. 
Swedeuborg, Rite of. 102. 
Switchmen's Mutual Aid As- 
sociation. 399, 400. 
Switchmen's Union of North 

America, 379. 380, 399. 



Tabor, International Order of 
Twelve, of Knights and 
Daughters of. 198, 201. 

Tabor. Knights of, 198. 

Tamina Society, or Colum- 
bian Order. 241. 

Tamina Society, St., 239,240, 
242. 

Tamina, Sons of St., 241, 291, 
292, 296, 311. 819, 3*23. 324, 
325, 326. 327. 370. 

Tammany, American Sons of 
King. 241. 325. 

Tamilian v Hall, 241. 

Tammany Society. 239. 324. 

Tammany Society, St.. 242. 

Tammany Society, or Colum- 
bian Order. 291. 325. 326, 
370. 

Tammany, St.. Society, or 
Columbian Order. 242. 

Telegraphers, Order of Com- 
mercial. 388, 395. 

Telegraphers. Railwav. Order 
of, 379, 380. 382, 383, 388, 
394. 

Temperance, Cadets of, 402, 
403. 408, 410. 

Temperance, Daughters of, 

402, 410. 
Temperance. Sons of. 10. 90, 

91, 92. 115, 314. 882, 402, 

403, 40S. 409, 410, 412. 
Templars of Honor and Tem- 
perance, 403. 408. 409, 410, 
411. 

Templars of Honor and Tem- 
perance. Junior, 412. 

Templars of Temperance, 
Royal. 114, 117. 145. 161, 
165. 403. 408. 

Temple, Order of the, 270, 
272. 273, 275, 346. 

Temple. Ordre du, 19, 29. 37. 
38. 

Teutonic Knights. 270. 

The Grand Fraternity, 120, 
121, 189. 

Theosophical Society, 104. 



Theta Delta Chi. 330. 334. 335, 
336, 347, 358, 363. 

Theta Xi, 364. 

Thirteen, Order of, 310. 

Titus, Royal Arch of, 248. 

Tonti. Order of, 203. 

Tramp Fraternities, 425. 

Travelers of America. Order 
of United Commercial. 183. 

Triad Societv. 68, 69. 

Triangle. Order of the, 183. 

Triangle, The. 394. 400, 401. 

Triangle, The (2d), 414. 

Triple Link Mutual Indem- 
nity Association. 191. 

True Brethren, 290, 291, 294, 
317. 327. 

Twelve. International Order 
of. of Knights and Daugh- 
ters of Tabor, 198, 201, 
262. 

Twelve. Order of, 198, 201. 



Uncle Sam, Order of. 290, 304, 

311. 
Union Beneficial Association, 

191. 
Union. Brotherhood of the, 

290. 291. 294. 299. 300, 305, 

306, 315. 319. 324. 326. 
Union Endowment. The, 

205. 
Union Fraternal League. 120, 

121. 191. 
Union Labor Party. 387. 
UnionLeagueof America. 367, 

418, 421. 
Union. Order of American, 

290. 2<i4. 296, 3U3. 310. 315. 

317, 318. 324. 327. 
Union Veterans' Legion, 365, 

369, 371. 375. 
United African Brotherhood, 

192. 
United Brotherhood. 421. 
United Endowment League, 

205. 
United Fellowship. Order of, 

184. 
United Irishmen, Brother- 
hood of. 413, 420. 
United League of America, 

174. 192. 
United States Benevolent 

Fraternity. 194. 
United States Benevolent 

Fraternity (2d). 194. 
United States Daughters. 372. 
Unity. Order of. 184. 
Universal Brotherhood. Sup- 
reme Commandery of the. 

189. 
Universal Republic for the 

United States of the Earth, 

401. 



•■V. A. S..-194. 

Vegetarians. The, 68. 

Vehmgerichte, The, 4, 6. 7, 
8, 22. 346. 

Veiled Prophets of the En- 
chanted Realm. Mystic Or- 
der. 97. 

Vesta. Order of. 202. 203. 

Veterans' Legion. Ladies 
Auxiliary Union. 369. 376. 

Veterans. Order of Sons of. 
374. 

Veterans. Sons of. U. S. A.. 
365, 369, 371, 374. 



Veterans, Sons of, U. S. A.: 
Ladies' Aid Society. 369, 
375. 

Veterans. United Confed- 
erate. 371. 376. 

Videttes. National Order of, 
290, 291, 294. 301. 310, 



W. W. W.. or "The Rain- 
bow." 179. 334. 335. 354, 364. 

Wanetas. The. 400. 401. 

War of 1812, Society of the, 
371. 

Washington. Knights and 
Ladies of. 145. 

Washington. Order of. 371. 

West Gate. Brotherhood of 
the. 17. 

Western Knights Protective 
Association, 120. 121, 194. 

Western Star Order. Inde- 
pendent. 114. 

Wheel. The Agricultural. 378, 
397. 

'•White Caps." 426. 

Whitecaps. The. 422. 426. 

White Flags, 68. 

White Lily. 68. 

White Lotus. 68. 

White Shrine of Jerusalem, 
Order of the. 102. 

Wide Awakes, 290. 291. 294, 
317. 327. 

Wolf's Head. 335. 340, 341. 
343. 344. 364. 

Woodchoppers Association. 
289. 

Wood Cutters. Order of, 99. 

Woodmen, Modern, of Amer- 
ica, 114, 115. 116, 117. 118, 
131. 134. 136. 157, 159. 164. 
177. 195. 

Woodmen of the World. 114, 
115. 117, 118. 134, 143, 148, 
157. 159, 165. 194, 202. 

World Mutual Benefit Asso- 
ciation. 196. 279. 

World. Order of the. 196. 279. 

World. Order of the, of Bos- 
ton. 203. 

Workingmen, International 
Association of, 385, 393. 400, 
401. 

Workmen. Ancient Order of 
United. 113. 115. 116. 117. 
lis. 122. 123. 128, 131. 132, 
183, 134. 135. 141, 143, 144. 
146, 148, lo6, 157, 160. 161. 
164. 166, 167. 169. 170, 174. 
175. 181. 184, 186. 188. 191. 
192. 193, 195, 196. 201. 204. 
229. 315. 400. 

Workmen, Ancient Order of 
United: Degree of Honor. 
129. 

Workmen. Ancient Order of 
United : Mosrullians. Order 
of. 129. 174. 

Workmen of America. Inde- 
pendent. 141. 

Workmen's Benefit Associa- 
tion. 114. 122. 196. 



Yellow Caps. 68. 
Yellow Flags. 68. 



Zeta Psi. 330. 3:34. 335, 

340. 343. 346. 364. 
Zodiac. The. 327. 




INDEX TO PROPEE NAMES 



Abales. Carl, 208. 
Abbett, Leon, 96. 
Abel, Joseph P., 62. 
Abell, C. Lee, 180. 
Acker, John J., 162. 
Ackley, H. F., 164. 
Adam, L. Isle. 270. 
Adams, Charles Francis, Jr., 

348. 
Adams, Henry C, 65. 
Adams, James F., 321. 
Adams, John, 312. 
Adams, John G. B., 369. 
Adams, John Quincy, 15, 16, 

331, 346, 357, 358. 
Adams, Samuel E., 56. 
Adams, William B.. 169. 
Adee, George A., 341. 
Adelnbehagen, Paul, viii. 
Affleck, Stephen D., 62. 
Agricola. 286. 
Aikin. William G., 364. 
Aitkin, D. D., 164. 
Akers, W. J.. 64. 
Akin, Henry C. 59. 
Alcon, Albert, 171. 
Alden, William L., 352. 
Aldricb, Louis, 218. 
Alee, Kalif, 4. 
Alexander II., 39, 272. 
Alfred. King. 171. 
Alger, Russell A. ,95, 369. 
Alger, William R., 61. 
Allan, F. W., viii. 
Allen, George H., 61. 
Allen, G. T., 366. 
Allen, John H.. 197. 
Allen, Marcus C. 62. 
Allison, William B., 348. 
Allyn. A. W.. 193. 
Altheimer, Benjamin, 58. 
Alvin, Harry. 289. 
Ammel, C. S., 183. 
Ammen, S. Z., 355. 
Anders, E. B., 168. 
Anderson, James, 14. 
Anderson, John, 63. 
Anderson, John R., 62. 
Anderson, Leverett M., 59. 
Andrae, John Valentine, 87. 
Andrews, Allen, 64, 
Andrus, Leroy, 160, 161. 
Angell, James B., 361. 
Anspacher. Henry, 207. 
Anthon, John Hone, 353. 
Anthony, Jesse B.. 62. 
Applegate. William J., 60. 
Archer, Mrs. Stella, 309. 
Archimedes. 205. 
Arkell, Bartlett. 341. 
Armatage, Charles H., 63. 
Armstrong, C. E., 64. 
Armstrong, H. C. 55. 
Arnold, George M., 355. 
Arnold, John B., 64. 
Arnold, Newton D., 60. 
Arthur, Chester A., 361. 
Arthur, King, 124, 125. 
Arthur, P. M.. viii. 382. 
Ashby, Joseph K., 59. 
Ashmole, Elias, 19,20,87. 
Ashton, GeonreW.,57. 
Astor, William. 351. 
Atherton, Henry B., 60. 
Atkinson. G. W., 56. 
Atwater, W. O.. 341. 
Atwater, William W., 351. 
Atwood, H. C, 27,49. 
Auer, A.. 282. 
Auger, James, 288. 
Aumont, Peter, 38, 40. 
Austin, K. R., 383. 
Avery, William R., 64. 



Babbitt, George H., 61. 
Babcock, Brenton D., 60. 
Backus, Rev. J. E., viii. 
Backus, J. E. N., 402, 403, 

404. 
Bacon, Lord, 4. 
Baden, J. A., 164. 

Badgerow, , 160. 

Bailey, Elisha I., 59. 

Bailey, Michael B., 215. 

Bailey, Wesley, 404. 

Bailey, W. S., 162. 

Bain, George, 273. 

Baird, William Raimond, 178, 

329, 331, 332, 334, 336, 355, 

357. 
Baker, E.. 56. 
Baker, Jacob G., 314. 
Balding, Thomas E., 60. 
Baldwin II., 269. 
Baldwin, Aaron, 57. 
Baldwin, C. F., 64. 
Baldwin, Henry, 304, 312, 323, 

419. 
Baldwin, Nathan A., 62. 
Ball. Robert, 57. 
Balloch, George W., 57. 
Balmain. George P., 63. 
Bangs, Algernon S.. viii. 
Bangs, Francis M., 361. 
Banks, Mrs. N. P., 309. 
Bannister. James, 66. 
Barber. James S., 63. 
Barbour. A. L., 163. 
Barker, George T., 63. 
Barker, J. G., 67. 
Barker, Wharton, 360. 
Barkey, Peter. 64. 
Barlow. John H.. 56. 
Barnard. Gilbert W., 60, 85. 
Barnard. M. P.. 402. 
Barnard. Robert. 360. 
Barnes, J. D.. 150. 
Barnes. Milton, 133. 
Barnes, W. H., 160.161. 
Bams. William Eddy, 231, 

232. 
Barre, Isaac. 240, 323. 
Barruel, Abbe, 14. 
Barthelmes. John C, 192. 
Bartlett, Clara J., 169. 
Bartlett, Edward G., 351. 
Bartlett, JohnS., 02. 
Bartlett, William M., 169. 
Bartram, B. F.,56. 
Bascom, Frank H., 2. 
Baskett, S. R., viii. 
Bass, Lyman K.. 361. 
Bass, John H., 66. 
Batchelor, James C, 48, 90. 
Bates, J. W. P., 164. 
Bates, John L., viii. 
Bates, Stockton. 64. 
Bates, William L., 65. 
Baumgarten, Emil, 8. 
Baumgarten. William, 198. 
Baxter, William H., 65. 
Bay lev, J., viii. 
Bayne, W. ML, 164. 
Beach, Abel, 364. 
Beach, Alexander J., 350. 
Beall,S. W.,363. 
Beamer, Airatha. 319. 
Bearce, Samuel F.,60. 
Beath, Robert B., 366, 368, 

369. 377. 
Beattie, John, 278. 
Beatty, Claudius F., 63. 
Beaujeu, Count. 38, 40. 
Bechtel. Charles. 63. 
Beck, Charles F., viii. 
Becker, Albert J., 62. 
Beckley. John, 357. 



-Bective, Earl of, 85. 
Bedarride, 78. 
Beharrell, C. H., 172. 
Beharrell, T. G., 172. 
Bell, Henry K., 353. 
Bell, John, 95, 183. 
Bell, John N., 64. 
Bell, Thomas C, 362. 
Bellamy, Marsden, viii. 
Bellinger, Frederick P., Jr., 

351. 
Belmont, O. H. P., 96. 
Behnonr, Perry, 352. 
Benedict XIV., Pope, 10. 
Benjamin, S. G. W., 355. 
Bennett. Clement W., 57. 
Benson, Charles H., 67. 
Benson, Frederic A., 62. 
Bentley. George W., 60. 
Benton, Thomas H., 96, 351. 
Benzenberg. George H., 66. 
Bernstein, Paul, viii. 
Berry, George A., 197. 
Berry, Henry C, 265. 
Berry, HimmB., 62. 
Berry, O. F., 160. 
Berry, Stephen, 56. 60, 90. 
Berthoud, Alexander P., 351. 
Besant, Mrs. Annie, vi, viii, 

104, 109, 110,111. 
Betts, George C, 58. 
Bever, George W., 57. 
Bibb, George M.. 96. 
Bideaud. Antoine. 46,47,48, 50 
Bien, Julius, viii, 207. 
Bierce, C. A., viii. 
Bigelow, John, 363. 
Bigelow, Joseph Hill, viii. 
Biggs, D. S.. viii, 165. 
Billing, Fay McC, 56. 
Billings, Charles E., 62. 
Billings, Jacob, Jr., 122. 
Bingham, Charles D., 63. 
Bingham, J. W., 66. 
Birch, John M., 60. 
Bishop, Alfreds., 64. 
Bishop, Joseph, 378. 
Bishop, M. J., 310. 
Bissell, Wilson Shannon, 340. 
Black, Chauncy F., 360. 
Black, Hugh, 222. 
Black. J. C., 359. 
Black. William H., 188. 
Blackburn, J. S.,130. 
Blackburn, Luke, 359. 
Blackshear, James E., 57. 
Blades, Francis A., 85. 
Blaine, Walker, 340. 
Blakely, Frederick L., 57. 
Bland, R. P., 96. 
Blatt, William, 59. 
Blatz, John, 282. 
Blavarsky, Helena Petrovna, 

vi, 104, 107. 10«. 109, 110, 111. 
Blavatsky, Nicephore, 107. 
Blish, G. W., 186. 
Bliss, EliakimR., 66. 
Bliss, George, 361. 
Blocki, William F., 66. 
Bloss, J. M., viii. 
Bloss, N. W., 187. 
Bliicher. 95. 
Blum, Robert, 206. 
Blyth, John, 65. 
Boadicea, Queen, 286. 
Boehme, 102. 
Bolton, Dewitt C, viii. 
Bolton, Henry, 65. 
Bonaparte, Jerome, 7. 
Bonaparte, Joseph, 271. 
Bonaparte, Napoleon, 271. 
Bonner, Berman, 210. 
Bonneville, Chevalier, 28. 



Bonsall, N. F., 65. 
Booker, Richard, 356. 
Boone, Edwin, 64. 
Boone, William K., 65. 
Booth, Edwin, 96, 218. 
Borden, Jerome B., 63. 
Boughton, J. S., viii. 
Bowen, Seranus, 61, 85. 
Bowen, W. R., 56. 
Bowers, H. F., 295. 
Bowie, T. F., 363. 
Bowker. J. C, 193. 
Bowles, G. F., viii, 189. 
Bowles, Samuel (1st), 96. 
Boyd, JohnC, 355. 
Boyd, W. T., viii. 
Bojde, T. N.,165. 
Boylen, A. F., 169. 
Boylen, Emma F., 169. 
Boylen, Sarah F., 169. 
Boylen, T. F., 169. 
Boynton, N. S., v, 153, 155, 

160,161,162. 
Bracken, Henry S.,66. 
Bradburn, O. N., 142. 
Bradford, Chester, 172, 189. 
Bradford. L. W. T., 360. 
Bradlev, W..186. 
Bradwell, James B., 66. 
Bragg, Edward S.,355. 
Brant, Joseph, 95. 
Bray ton, James B., 61. 
Brazier, William H., 66. 
Breckenridge, C. R., 349. 
Breckenridge. John C, 95. 
Breen, James D.. 213. 
Brewer, Arthur H.. 62. 
Brewer, C. E. P.. 198. 
Brewer, Hamilton, 178. 
Brice, Albert G.. 58. 
Brice, Calvin S., 352. 
Briggs, Ethan, 313, 314. 
Briggs, J. Albion, 165. 
Briggs, Samuel, 64. 
Bright, Jesse D.. 420. 
Brine. Dathe. 414. 
Bristol, D. W., 402, 404. 
Britten, Emma H., 104. 
Brodie, William A., 62. 
Bromley, Isaac, 341. 
Bromwell, J. H., 56, 65. 
Bronson, Horatio G., 62. 
Bronson, IraT., 188. 
Bronson. Samuel M., 62. 
Brooke, Thomas, 63. 
Brooks, Lee H., 200. 
Brothers, John L., 63. 
Brougham, John, 96, 284, 364. 
Brown, Austin H., 65. 
Brown, B. Gratz, 350. 
Brown. C. H.. 65. 
Brown, E. H., 66. 
Brown, F. L., viii, 164. 
Brown, George L., 63. 
Brown, H., 64. 
Brown, James W., 64. 
Brown, John M.. 124. 
Brown. Joseph T., 57. 
Brown, M. R., 164. 
Brown, Robert Smith, 86. 
Brown, Theodore B.,364. 
Brown, W. M.,361. 
Brown, W. W., 197. 
Bruce, John. 278. 
Bruce, Robert, 87, 88, 278. 
Brunson, Amos, 350. 
Brush, John T.,65. 
Brush, John. Jr., 351. 
Bryan,W T illiam Jennings, 130, 

158, 310, 388. 
Buchanan, James, 05. 306. 
Buchanan, James Isaac, viii, 



436 



INDEX TO PROPER NAMES 



Buch waiter, M. L., 65. 
Buck, Charles F.,58. 
Buck, Jerome, 227. 
Buck, J. D., 108, 109. 
Buck, Silas M., 57. 
Buckingham, George B. 

61. 
Buckley, Phillip, 252. 
Budd, Charles Arms. 353. 
Buechner, William L., 64. 
Bugbee. A. V., 193. 
Buist, John S., 59. 
Buist, Samuel S., 59. 
Bullit, John C, 350. 
Bundy, William E., viii. 
Bunn, James N, 229. 
Burbage, John E., 149. 
Burbank, A. P.. 352. 
Burdettc, S. S., 369. 
Burdick. Leander, 64. 
Burdick, W. E., 197. 
Burge, Carrie M., 374. 
Burke, Andrew H., 59. 
Burlingame, Anson, 96. 
Burmester, Charles E., viii. 
Burnett. D. L., 263. 
Burnett, D. Z., viii. 
Burnett, W. H., 263. 
Burnham, Edward P. , 60, 85. 
Burnham, William J., 60. 
Burnham, George H., 62. 
Burns, Frances E., 164. 
Burns, Henry T., 197. 
Burns, Robert, 95. 
Burnside, A. E., 369. 
Burr, Aaron, 95. 
Burr, Charles H., 122, 169. 
Burr, Thomas W., 60. 
Burras, Thomas, 250. 
Burrill, Henry F., 169. 
Burroughs, Benjamin, 353. 
Burt, Eugene D'., 62. 
Burton, Alonzo J., viii, 99. 

101. 
Burton, John R., viii. 
Burton, Laura L., 101. 
Bury, R. A., 65. 
Bush, J. Foster. 162. 
Bush, John S. P., 61. 
Bushnell, Asa S., 65. 
Butler, Benjamin F., 96. 
Butler, C. R., 65. 
Butler, J. Haskell, 161. 
Butler, J. L., 65. 
Butler, M. C, 352. 
Butler, MahlonD., 66. 
Butler, Marion, 96. 
Butler, William Allen, 361. 
Buttlar. Charles J. R., 59. 
Buttenheim, S.,208. 
Buttner, C. H., 172. 
Buzzell, Daniel T., 122. 
Bynum, William D., 350. 
Byron, Lord, 95. 

Cabel, William, 357. 
Cable, Ben T.,364. 
Cadwallader, George, 373. 
Cady, Daniel, 402, 403, 408. 
Cagliostro, 30, 46, 54. 
Calderwood. Charles R., 61. 
Caldwell, A. B., 139, 227. 
Caldwell, J. D., 64. 
Caldwell, James P., 362. 
Calhoun, John C. 420. 
Calladon. Lord, 307. 
Callen, Thomas, 216. 
Camp, Walter, 340. 
Campbell, D. W., 399, 
Campbell, James E, 130. 
Campbell, Mary J., 169. 
Campbell, Sherwood C, 2. 
Camprleld. George A., viii. 
Canfield, H. A., 197. 
Cannon, Henry W., 96. 
Cannon, J. G., 130. 
Capeheart, Thomas, 350. 
Cardinal of Lor rain, 273. 
Care nee, 78. 
Carleton. Will, 354. 
Carlos, James J., viii. 
Carmichael. Hartley, 59. 103. 
Carnahan, James P., viii. 



Carpenter, George O.. 61. 

Carpenter, George S., 61. 

Carpenter, John C, 57. 

Carpenter, W.E., 183. 

Carr, Erasmus T., 56. 

Carrington, G. W., 56. 

Carroll, DeWitt C, 63. 

Carroll, John D., 213. 

Carson, E. T., ix, 18, 60, 72, 
90. 

Carter, Benjamin, 288. 

Carter, Charles W., 60. 

Carter, James C, 348. 

Carter, John M., ix. 

Carter, Samuel R., 2. 

Carter, Thomas H. 297. 

Carter. William H., 364. 

Cary, Charles, 64, 85. 

Catharine II., 271. 

Cato, 3^6. 

Case, Henry, 351. 

Casey, L. E., 200. 

Cash, Eliza, 169. 

Cash, Granville, 169. 

Cass, Lewis, 95. 

Cassard, Andrew, 101. 

Cassin, Thomas, 213. 

Caswell, Thomas H., 48, 49, 
56. 

Caswell, Richard W., 96. 

Caufy, L. L., 66. 

Cavanaugh, John H., 57. 

Caven, John, 60. 

Cavin. John, 172. 

Cavour, 4. 

Cerneau, Joseph, 41, 44, 46, 
47, 48, 50, 51. 54. 

Chaffee, Albert H., 61. 

Chance, George H.. 59. 

Chandler, Zachariah, 95. 

Chamberlain. Austin B., 56. 

Chamberlain, C. W., 64. 

Chamberlain, Daniel H., 340, 
361. 

Chamberlain, J. W., 64. 

Chamberlain, M. H., 65. 

Chamberlain, T. C, 359. 

Champan, R. H., 363. 

Chambers, N. B., 383. 

Champion, Robert H., 263. 

Chapell, James S., 2. 

Chapin, Luther. 313, 314. 

Chapman, Alfred F.. 87. 

Chapman, Silas, Jr., 62. 

Chappell, Philip E., 188. 

Charlemagne. 6. 

Charles V ., Emperor of Ger- 
many, 270. 

Chase, Albro E., 60. 

Chase, Herbert A., 169. 

Chase, Ira J., ix, 190. 

Chase, Kate D., 169. 

Chase, S. B.. 404. 

Chastelan, Chevalier, 272. 

Chastenier, 30. 

Cheatham. John. 256. 

Check, G. W., 142. 

Cheesman, George G., 219, 
220. 

Cheesman, John, 250. 

Cherry, James J., 350. 

Chessman, William H., 61. 

Chester. George F., 352. 

Childs, Geonre W.. 96. 

Choate, Joseph A., 348. 

Choate, Rufus. 96. 

Christian, J. H.. 164. 

Christiancy. H. C..363. 

Church, James E.. 66. 

Churchill, C. Robert, ix. 

Churchill, J., 288. 

Cisco, Charles T., 58. 

Clancy. J. J., ix. 

Clapp, JohnM., 64. 

Clare, Ralph B.,ix. 

Clark, Charles P., 62. 

Clark, E. E.,ix, 382. 

Clark, Emmons, 363. 

Clark, F. M., ix. 

Clark, H. G.. 188. 

Clark, J. D., 164. 

Clark, Louis G., 59. 

Clark, S. W., 74. 



Clarke. Edward F., 275. 
Clarke, George H., 62. 
Clarke, Haswell C, 66. 
Clarke, John H., 61. 
Clarkson, Thaddeus S., ix, 

369. 
Classon, James H., 374. 
Clay, Henry, 14. 95. 
Cleaves, George P., 56, 60. 
Cleburne, William, 59. 
Clement V., Pope, 37, 182. 
Clement XII., Pope, 9, 12. 
Clendenen, G. W., ix, 159. 
Cleveland, Grover, 297. 
Clif t, J. Augustus, ix. 
Cline, Henry A., 57. 
Clinton, DeWitt, 47, 96. 
Clowrv, John K., 215. 
Cluff, MilonO.,169. 
Coates, Charles. 288. 
Coates, Rennel, 318. 
Cobb, Howell. 95. 
Cobb, John Stover, 104. 
Cochrane. J. B., 197. 
Cockerill, John M., 96. 
Cockrell, Nathan E., 362. 
Codding, James H., 60. 
Codman, John T., 135. 
Coffin, Selden J., ix. 
Cohen, Moses, 44, 50. 
Colby, A. W., ix. 
Cole, Cvrill B., 65. 
Cole, George W., 168. 
Cole, Jeremiah S., 58. 
Cole, Otis. 62. 
Cole, Sidney H., 66. 
Colfax, Schuyler, 260. 
Coleman. John, 6. 
Coleman, Katie, 216. 
Collamore, John H., 61. 
Collins, Charles A., 64. 
Collins, C. P., 197. 
Collins, John F., 2. 
Collins, J. A., 64. 
Collins, Martin, 56. 
Collins, William J., 58. 
Collyer, Robert, 96. 
Columbus. Christopher, 325. 
Colwell, Daniel, 216. 
Commenus. Emperor, 81. 
Condon, O'Meagber, 414. 
Congdon, J. W.. ix. 
Conlin, M. R.. 399. 
Connor, Washington E., 96. 
Conover, J. H.,65. 
Conover, J. S., 56. 
Constantine the Great, 81, 276. 
Conyngham. John B., 352. 
Cook, Abel G., 62. 
Cook, James W.. 59. 
Cook, Robert J. , 340. 
Cook, William, 390. 
Coon, L. E., 404. 
Cooper, Daniel W., 362. 
Cooper, James Fenimore, 351. 
Cope, Alfred, 375. 
Coppinger, J. J.. 297. 
Corey, Giles, 1S3. 
Corliss, John B., 65. 
Cornwallis, Lord, 333. 
Cortland, J. Wakefield, 56. 
Corwin, Thomas, 96. 
Cotter, Frank G., ix, 218. 
Cotterall, J. W.. Jr., 65. 
Cottrill, Charles M., 60. 
Cotton, AylettR., 57. 
Coulson, Nicholas, 65,85. 
Coulter, Henry W., 58. 
Coulter. James P., 66. 
Court, Robert T., 194. 
Covert, Isaac, 402. 
Cowdery, Oliver, 71. 
Cowdre'y, Robert H., 387. 
Cowen, T. B., ix. 
Cowes, Robert, 77, 79. 
Cowper, Archibald. 218. 
Cox, William R., 95. 
Coxe, Daniel, 26. 27. 
Craig, A. L., 134. 
Craig, Emmett De W., 98. 
Craig, J. T.. 164. 
Craighill. Edward A., 59. 
Crapo, William W., 340, 348. 



Crawford, Charles, 63. 
Crawford, Dougal, 278. 
Crawford, E. M., 186. 
Cregier, Dewitt C, 66. 
Crocker, Charles F., 57. 
Crockett, Charles N., 314. 
Crofts, Daniel W., 362. 
Cromwell, Charles T., 363. 
Cronin, P. H., 413, 414. 
Crosby, Francis J., 66. 
Crosby, Howard, 353. 
Crosby, Lemuel, 314. 
Cross, J. L., 49. 
Cruett, John W., ix., 137. 
Cruft, John W, 65. 
Cruickshank. John D., 278. 
Culbertson, William, ix. 
Cumback, William, 172. 
Cumberland, Duke of, 307. 
Cummings, Charles H., 64. 
Cummings, Daniel E., 59. 
Cummings, John A., 135, 186. 
Cummings, Silas W., 61, 85. 
Cummings, Thomas H., ix. 
Cummings, William, 314, 315. 
Cunningham. Harper S.. 58. 
Cunningham, James, 157. 
Cunningham, W. J., 189. 
Cunningham, William M., 64. 
Cunningham, William R., 

353. 
Currier, George W., 60. 
Currier, Mary P., 193. 
Curry, John A., 314, 315. 
Curtis, Charles F., 57. 
Curtis, David A., 108. 
Curtis, Dexter D., 63. 
Curtis, George Ticknor, 352. 
Curtis. George W., 66. 
Cushing, Caleb, 96. 
Cushman, Charles W., 63. 
Cnshman, Lewis N, 122. 
Custis, Joseph S., 6. 
Cutler, Eben J., 64. 
Cutting, Walter, 61. 

Da Costa, Isaac, 44. 
Dalby. John N., 188. 
Dalcho. Frederick, 44, 45, 48, 

49, 50. 
d'Alembert, 9. 
Dallas, George M., 95. 
Dalton, W. B., 214. 
Daly, Charles P.. 77. 
Dame, Charles O, 60. 
Dame, Percy A., 169. 
Damon. Henry, 135. 
Dana, Edward S., 341. 
Danforth, Charles C, 61. 
Danforth, Mrs. M. M., 164. 
Daniell, William H., 57. 
Daniels, N. C, 66. 
Daniels, Newell. 184. 
Daniels, William P., ix. 
Darling, C. K., 186. 
Darrah, Thomas M., 60. 
Darrow, Edward McF.. 59. 
Dase, William H., ix. 
D'Aubigne, Oswald Merle, 2. 
Daughertv, Charles M., 57. 
Davenport, E. D. 284. 
Davie. William R., 95. 
David I. of Scotland, 87. 
Davidson, J. F., 165, 190. 
Davies. William A., 57. 
Davis, A. P., 374. 
Davis, C. K., 353. 
Davis, Evan, 57. 
Davis, G. W., 65. 
Davis, Jacob Z., 57, 
Davis, James E., 65. 
Davis, Jefferson, 376. 
Davis, M. C, 172. 
Davis, S. S., 265. 
Davison. W. B., 144. 
Day, David F., 63. 
Day. Fessenden I., ix, 60. 
Dayton, William H., 364. 
Dean, Amos, 354. 
de Bouillon, Godfrey, 183, 269. 
Debs, Eugene V., 379, 383. 
de Bulow, A. H., 76, 77. 
De Clairmont, Ralph, 57. 



INDEX TO PROPER NAMES 



437 



De Cormenin, 9. 

Deemer, E. H., 314. 

Defebaugh, James E., 232. 

Defoe, Daniel, 247. 

Deger, J., 284. 

De Grasse Tilly, A. F. A., 44, 

45, 46, 47, 48, 50. 
De Graw. Charles S., 350. 
De Hompesch, Louis, 271. 
De Jong, Erie, 197. 
De Kalb. Baron, 95. 
Delahogue, J. B., 47, 50. 
de la Motta, Emanuel, 47, 51. 
De Leon, Daniel, ix, 401. 
Delevan, Erastus L., 63. 
Demaree, J. A.. 142, 146. 
Demarest, William E., 63. 
Demimr. Lucius P., 164. 
de Molay, Jacques. 19, 37, 3S, 
4 183. 
Dempsey, D. W., 6. 
Dempster, William, 380. 
Dennis, Samuel M., 362. 
Dennis. T. E., 142. 
Denzer, V., 234. 
Depew, Chauncey M., 96. 340. 

361. 
Derby. Lord. 109. 
Dermott, Laurence. 23. 34. 53. 
De Rohan, Prince Camille. 

272. 
Desdoitv, J. B.. 47. 50. 
Desjardins. F. X.. 192. 
De Soto. Ferdinand. 239. 
de Si. Martin, Louis Claude. 

98. 
Deuel. Harry P., 58. 
Devens. Charles. Jr., 369. 
De Vertot, 41, 270. 
De Villanova, Helion, 270. 
De Villaret, Fulk. 271. 
DeVotie, Noble L., 362. 
Devoy, John, 414. 
De Wees, F. P., 423. 
Deyo, John H., ix, 67. 75. 
Dickerman, John S.. 2. 
Dickey, John, 183. 
Dickinson, Don M., 351. 
Dickinson, Edward, 60. 
Dickinson, Ella M., 166. 
Dickson, Moses, 198. 
Diderot. 9. 

Diehl. Christopher, 56, 70. 
Dill. J. H. C. 56. 70. 
Dillie, F. M..200. 
Dingley, Nelson. Jr.. 304. 
Dittenhoefer, Isaac. 307. 
Doane, William Croswell, 353. 
Dobbin, Joseph L.. 58. 
Dodge, GrenvilleM.. 342. 365. 
Doheny, Michael, 415. 
Dol ph.' Joseph N., 59, 96. 
Done 1 son, A. J., 306, 326. 
Donnelly, T. M., ix. 
Doolittle, Erastus H.. 61. 
Dore, John P., ix. 
Doremus, R. Ogden. 353. 
Dorf, Samuel, ix. 
Doris, T. C. ix. 
Dorward, W. N.. 194. 
Dorwell. R. R„ ix. 
Doubleday, Abner. 108. 
Dougherty. John, ix, 399. 
Douglas, Stephen A.. 95. 
Douglas, Sylvester M.. 322. 
Douglass, S. W.. 65, 
Douglass. W. W., 172. 
Downs. George, 251. 
Drake, Chester T.. 66. 
Drake, Robert Thompson. 

359. 
Drewrv. John C, 56. 
Drexler, William, 8. 
Drinkle. H. C. 133. 
Driscoll. Comelius T.. 216. 
Drummond, JosiahH., 18, 49, 

52, 60, 85. 90. 103. 
Duane. James C., 351. 
DuBois. F. T., 96. 
Dudley, Edgar S.. 59. 
Dudley, Thomas U., 58. 
Dniranne, A. J.. 101. 
Dugro, Philip H., 360. 



Duke, Elbert T., 59. 
Dulberger, Osias, 210, ' 
Dumary, T. Henry, 63. 
Duncan, John, 65, 256. 
Duncan, John Holt. 349. 
Duncan, William J., 63. 
Duncanson. Charles C. 57. 
Dunckerley, Thomas, 34, 38, 

39, 82. 
Dunham. William, 65. 
Dunlop, Robert, 355. 
Dunmore. J. W., 6. 
Dunn, Joseph H.. 64. 
Dunn. William A.. 123. 
Dunnell. Charles T.. 63. 
Dunnell. Henry N.. 64. 
Dunnell. Mark H., 353. 
Du Plessis. P. Le B., 44. 47, 

50. 
Du Pont, A. V.. 360. 
Du Potet. A. Mathieu, 44. 46, 

47, 50. 
Du Puy, Ravmond, 270. 
Durand. E. E., 188. 
Durand, James H.. 63. 
Dutton, Alpheus D., 62. 
Duval 1, Henry, 189. 
Dwight, Sarah E.. 264. 
Dwight, Timothy. 340. 348. 
Dwyer, Dennis, 216. 

Eaby. Joel S., 64. 
Eakins. Joseph B.. 3. 62. 
Earle. Alexander C. 353. 
Earle. Joseph O.. 62. 
Earley, Charles R.. 63. 
Earnshavv. William, 369. 
Eastman, Charles H.. 59. 
Eaton. Calvin W.. 63. 
Eaton, W. C. 97. 
Eavenson. Marvin M., ix. 
Eckels. James H., 158. 
Eddy, Andrew B.. 62. 
Eddy, Edward, 2. 
Eddy Brothers, The. 107. 
Edelstein. John. ix. 
Edgecomb. E. F.. 137. 
Edger, Lilian. 105. 
Edmunds. G . ix. 70. 
Edmunds, George F.. 96. 
Edward III.. 35. 
Edwards. Amos S., 63. 
Edwards. George B.. 63. 
Edwards. Isaac C, 66. 
Edwards. Jonathan. 264. 
Eels. Samuel, 347. 
Effendee. Rizk Allah Has- 

son, 1 . 
Egan, Wiley M.. 66. 
Eggers. T. J.. 137. 
Eg'le, William H.. 63. 
Ehle, John N., 165. 
Ehlers. Edward M. L., 2, 56, 

62. 
Eichbaum, Joseph. 63. 
Eidson. W. R.. ix. 197. 
Elizabeth. Queen. 270. 
Ellerman. L., 20:>. 
Ellinger. Moritz, ix. 208. 
Elliott, Bvron K.. 65. 
Elliott. James, 362. 
Elliott, Nathan Kelley. 66. 
Elliott, William E., 169. 
Ellis, Georee H., 389. 
Ellis, Lvman A., 57. 
Ellis, Waring H., 65. 
Ellison, SaramR.,63. 
Ellmaker, Amos, 14. 
Ellsworth, Ephraim Elmer. 

293. 
Ely. Foster. 62. 
Emery. Temple. 65. 
Emmet. Robert. 414. 
Emmons. Alonzo C. 54 
Emmons, Theodore H., 61. 
Endicott. Henry, 61. 
Engelhardt. August, ix. 
English. William H., 95." 
Eno, John C, 340. 
Entwisle, John P., 254. 
Erhardt, Joel B., 363. 
Erwin. C. K., 194. 
Eusebius, Bishop, 81. 



Euston, Earl of. 103. 

Everett, D., ix. 

Everett. Edward, 16, 331. 346, 

357, 358. 
Everett. Percival L., 61. 
Everhart, R. E., 144. 

Failey. James F.. ix. 
Fairchild, Charles S., 352. 
Fairchild, Leroy, 97. 
Fairchild. Lucius. 96. 374, 369. 
Falkenburg, F. A., 134. 165, 

194. 
Farmer, C. C, 194. 
Farnhara, Augustus B., 60. 
Farrel, Jacob A.. 351. 
Farrell, J. H., ix. 
Farrington, George E.. 65. 
Fasold. Eli, 64. 
Faulkner, A. O.. 164. 
Faulkner. C. J.. 96. 
Faulkner, George. 226. 
Fawcett. Edgar A.. 353. 
Feeney, Edward. 214. 
Fellows, John Q. A.. 56. 
Fellows, Joseph W., 60. 
Felt, G. H.,104. 
Fenimore. John C. 183. 
Fennimore. William. 390. 
Fenwick. Bishop. 312. 
Ferdinand IV., 271. 
Ferdinand V., Emperor, 312. 
Ferguson, James F., 62. 
Ferry, John C. 58. 
Ferry. O. S.. 361. 
Fessler, Ignaz A.. 32. 
Ficken, John F.. 59. 
Fidlar, Wilbur F., 57. 
Field, Eugene, 359. 
Field, Henry C, 62. 
Fields, James, 236. 
Fields, Kate, 72. 
Fields. M. F.,ix, 49. 67. 
Fifield, Eugene. 65. 
Fifield, S. S.,66. 
Fillmore. Millard. ?o, 306, 326. 
Filmer, William. 66. 
Finch, John B.. 404. 
Findlater, James. 65. 
Fish, G. H.. 65. 
Fish, Hamilton, Jr.. 353. 
Fish, Nicholas, 353. 
Fish, Stuyvesant, 353. 
Fisher, Frederic S.. 61. 
Fisk, Charles H.. 58. 
Fitch, William E., 62. 
Fitts, Edward A.. 61. 
Fitzgerald. Adolphus L.. 56. 
Fitz-Gerald. Francis W., 215. 
Fitzhutrh. Daniel, 356. 
Fitzhugh, Theodoric. 356. 
Flach. C. H.. 64. 
Flagg. Charles B.. 183. 
Flagler. Benjamin. 62. 
Flammer, J. A., 327. 
Flanders. Dana J., 61. 
Flcischmann. August T.. 188. 
Fleming, RufusE.. 56. 
Fleming, Walter M.. 1. 62. 
Fletcher, Leroy D.. 57. 
Fletcher, Naamen, 362. 
Fletcher, Thomas M., 61. 
Fleury. Cardinal, 35. 
Flood. Martin, 366. 
Florence, William J. 
Flower, Roswell P.. ! 
Flovd, W. P.. 6. 
Fludd, Robert, 87. 
Flynn, Dennis T.. 15. 
Flythe. Augustus W.. 350. 
Folger, Charles J.. 3S3. 
Folger. R. B.. 49. 
Follet, John A.. 169. 
Follett. John F.. 133. 
Fondev. Townsend, 2. 
Fondey. William H.. 353. 
Foote, Frank M., 56. 
Foraker, Joseph B. , 360. 
Forrest, Edwin, 96, 218. 
Fort. G. F., 18. 
Foster. John R., 59. 
Foster. Wade. 362. 
Foulhouze. John. 48. 



1,96. 



Fowle, George W., ix, 65. 
Fowler, William C, 58. 
Fox, Christopher G., 56. 
Fox, James A., 61. 
Fox, J. P., 380. 
Fox, P. V., 65. 
Fox Sisters, The, 16. 
France, George B.. 59. 
Francis, Charles K., 64, 67, 

83, 85, 86. 
Francis, D. M.. 350. 
Francis and Mary. 273. 
Francken, Henry A., 37, 44, 

45, 50. 
Frank, Henry L.. 58. 
Franklin, Benjamin, 17, 26, 

27, 95, 300. 414. 
Franklin. Thomas I., 352. 
Frasier, Daniel E., 169. 
Frasier, Mrs. D. E., 169. 
Frautzen. C. J., ix. 
Frazee. Andrew B.. 60. 
Frederick the Great, 4, 32, 45. 
Freeland, James H., 61. 
Freeling, Peter J., 57. 
Freeman, Ambrose W., 58. 
Freeman, Merrill P., 56. 
Fremont, John C, 306. 
French, A. J., 193. 
Fresson, G. S., xii. 
Fricke, W. B., 106. 
Friedlein. Emanuel M., 207. 
Frisbie. Bvron S., 62. 
Frost, D. M.. ix, 303. 
Frye. Daniel M., 169. 
Frve, William P., 361. 
Fuller, George L., 168. 
Fuller, George W., 62. 
Fuller, H. N. 135. 
Fuller, Melville W., 351. 
Fullertou. Alexander, 105. 111. 
Fulleys, James A.. 58. 
Fulton, Justin D.. 353. 
Furnas, Robert W., 58. 

Gage. Elbridge F., 57. 
Gage, Frank N, 162. 
Galami. M.. ix. 
Gale. William H.. 66. 
Gallaudet, Thomas, 338. 
Galloway, C. B., 353. 
Gans, William A., ix. 
Gardiner, Silas Wright, 57. 
Gardner, George J., 62. 
Gardner, William Sewall, 49. 
Garfield, James A., 95, 260. 
Garibaldi, 4, 95. 
Garland, M. M.,378. 
Garrett, John B., 56. 
Garrett, Robert, 364 
Garrett, Thomas E. 
Garrigues, Franklir 
Garwood. S. S.. ix. 
(Jassett, Henry. 15. 
Gaston. Frederick. 
Gates, Albert F.. 6.. 
Gauderup. Thomas, 144. 
Geary. William M.. 216. 
Gelbough. Frederick M., 59. 
Gellanis. Emmanuel, 86. 
George, Milton. 385. 
Gerard, D. W., ix. 165, 190. 
Gerard. Peter. 269. 
Gerhardt, W. F. C, 137. 
Germann, F.. 234. 235. 
Germann, J.. 234. 
Gerow. John A., 65. 
Gerrv, Eldridge T.. 351. 
Getty. Henry H., 66. 
Gherardi. Bancroft, 374. 
Gibbon. John. 374. 
Gibbons. Cardinal, 10. 
Gibson, W. H., 288. 
Gilbert, F.O., 65. 
Gilbert, George W., 62. 
Gilbert, Mahlon N, 364. 
Gildersleeve, Charles E., ix, 

317. 
Gillett, Charles E., 57. 
Gillett. Simeon P., 66. 
Gillette, Emma M., 163. 
Gilman. Daniel C, 340, 348. 
Gilroy. John J.. 64. 



438 



INDEX TO PROPER NAMES 



Gilroy, Thomas, 297. 
Girard, Stephen, 96. 
Giustiniani, Abbe, 81. 
Gladstone, G., 405. • 
Gladstone, W. E., 252. 
Glahn, A., 234. 
Glake, William, 65. 
Glazebrook, Otis A., 349. 
Gleason, James M., 61. 
Gleaves, Richard, 73. 
Glenn, G. W., x. 
Gobin, John P. S., 369. 
Goble, Frank B., 63. 
Goddard, Leroy A., 66. 
Goethe, Johann W. von, 4. 
Goff, Nathan, 95. 
Goheen, J. W., 164. 
Goldberg, Edward, 58. 
Goldsmith, H. J., 209. 
Goldsmith, Louis, 57. 
Golley, F. B., 66. 
Gompers, Samuel M., 96. 
Goodale, A. G., 87. 
Goodale, H. G., x, 79, 80. 
Goodale, L. C, 64. 
Goodale, Samuel, 360. 
Goodale. William C. 362. 
Goodman. Theodore H., 57. 
Goodspeed, J. McK., 64. 
Goodwin, William W., 63. 
Gordon, James B., £6. 
Gordon, John B., 376. 
Gordon, Lord George, 248. 
Gordon, Theodore P., 64. 
Gordon, Thomas B., 349. 
Gorgas, Ferdinand J. S., 55. 
Gorman, Arthur P., x, 96. 
Gottlese, Alter. 206. 
Gould, Benjamin A., Gl. 
Gould, James L., 62. 
Gould. R. F., xv, 10, 18, 19, 21, 

28, 35, 39, 40, 78. 
Gould, S. C, 79, 98, 101, 102, 

221. 
Gourgas, G. G. Z., 50. 
Gourgas, J. J. J., 47, 48, 49. 
Gove, Aaron, 57. 
Gowen, Franklin B., 425. 
Gowey, John F., 60. 
Grady, Henry W., 96, 351. 
Graham, G. S.. x. 
Graham. Robert McC, 90. 
Graham, W. G., 168. 
Granger. Salmon A., 169. 
Grant, H. B., 56. 
Grant, Robert. 352. 
Grant, U. S.. 260. 
Daniel, 366. 

. A., 164. 

enry W., 58. 

A. W., 96. 

Samuel F., 66. 

Andrew H., 364. 

Frank, v. 

Nathanael, 95. 

af . Lawrence N.. 57. 
Greenwood, Frederick, 59. 
Greenwood, Joseph, 172. 
Greenwood, Marvin I., 63. 
Gregg, Ellis B., 362. 
Gregory XVI., Pope, 10. 
Gretzinger, W. C x. 
Gridley, Jeremy, 95. 
Griest, W. C, x. 
Griffin, Lemuel G., 77. 
Griffin, M. I. J., x. 
Griffith, Charles T., 63. 
Griggs, John W.. 297. 
Grimes, J. D., 133. 
Grinnell, J. M., x. 
Griswold. A. Miner, 352. 
Groesbeck, W. S., 348. 
Grosch, A. B., 395. 
Gross, Albert, 182. 
Gross, F. W., x. 
Grosvenor. J. W., 165. 
Grow, Galusha A., 361. 
Grummond,Frederick W.. 63. 
Guild, William H., 61. 
Guiwitts, W. Murray, 194. 
Gunner, Rudolph, 59. 
Gunther, Charles F., 66. 
Guptil, Albert B., 59. 



Guthrie, George W., 60. 
Guthrie, Henry H., 58. 
Guthrie, James, 95. 
Gwynn, R., 64. 

Hacker, J. H., 314. 
Hacquet, Germain, 45, 50. 
Haddock, C. B., 341. 
Hadley, Arthur T., 340. 
Hadley. O. S., 172. 
Hadley, Sterling G., 360. 
Hadley, W. A., 111. 
Hahne, I. A., x. 
Haisler, Michael J., 66. 
Hale, Edward Everett, 348. 
Hale, George, 64. 
Hall, Alfred A., 61. 
Hall, Amos H., 64. 
Hall, A.Oakey, 363. 
Hall, Caroline A.. 395, 396. 
Hall, David H., 59. 
Hall, Edwin C, 63. 
Hall, Edwin G., 58. 
Hall, Frank M., 59. 
Hall, John K.. 61. 
Hall, Prince, 72, 73. 
Hall, Robert H., 59. 
Halladay, Calvin, 64. 
Hallenbeck, William E.. 187. 
Hambly, W. J. D., 310. 
Hamburger, Isaac, 209. 
Hamburger, S., 208. 
Hamilton, Alexander, 312, 

370. 
Hamilton, Benjamin O., 59. 
Hamilton, Gail, 351. 
Hamilton, James, 366. 
Hamilton, William R., x, 70. 
Hammer, H. H., x. 
Hampson. R. V.. 64. 
Hamsher, L. E., 197. 
Hancock, John, 95. 
Hancock, Winfield Scott, 374. 
Hand, Walter M., 63. 
Hanmer, John, 34. 
Hansbrough, H. C, 96. 
Hansen, Emil C, 202. 
Harburger, Julius, x, 208, 209. 
Hardin, Henry, 349. 
Hardy, Samuel, 357. 
Hare, Edward R., 60. 
Harlan, James M., 350. 
Harlan, John M., 96. 
Harmon, Fletcher H., 59. 
Harper Brothers, 312. 
Harper, G. S., x. 
Harper, James. 313, 317, 324. 
Harper, John W., 353. 
Harper, Joseph A., 353. 
Harper, Samuel, 2, 375. 
Harper, Samuel H., 2. 
Harris, Herbert, 60. 
Harris, John T., 64. 
Harris, L. D., 65. 
Harris, Martin, 71. 
Harris, Thomas Lake, 16. 
Harrison, Benjamin, 162, 260, 

359. 
Harrison, H. L., x. 
Harrison, Wallace K., 169. 
Harte, H. M.,x. 
Hartman, Franz, 111. 
Hartranft, John F., 369. 
Harvey, Charles M., 14, 305, 

312, 419. 
Harvey, William, 58. 
Harvev, William H.. 321, 322. 
Haskell, John, 162. 
Haskins, Seth F., 66. 
Hass, James H., 58. 
Hassewell, J. N., x. 
Hastings, D. H., 96. 
Hastings, Moses M., 60. 
Hastings, S. D., 404. 
Hatch, Edward W., 63. 
Hatch. H. W., 187. 
Hatch. John, 61. 
Hatch, Oscar C, 61. 
Hathaway, Nicholas, 61. 
Haven, E. O., 338. 341. 
Hawes, Charles W., 158, 164. 
Hawkes, B. F., 366. 
Haw T kes, George, 162. 



Hawkins, R. O., 65. 
Hawley, James H., 60. 
Hawley, Joseph R., 361. 
Hawthorne, Julian, 352. 
Haxton. B. F., 65. 
Hay, John, 364. 
Hayden, Francis A., 58. 
Hayden, James R., 56. 
Hayes, Charles O, 61. 
Hayes, Charles E., 63. 
Hayes, J. J., 228. 
Hayes, John W., x, 389, 394. 
Hayes, Moses M., 44. 
Hayes, Rutherford B., 260, 

338, 374. 
Hays, Edmund B., 49, 51, 52, 

54. 
Hay's. M. M., 50. 
Hays, O. L., 64. 
Hays, Samuel T.. 314, 315. 
Haywood, Charles. 288. 
Hazen, A. D., 364. 
Hazen, M. W., 261. 
Hazleton, William N., 288. 
Hazzard, C. W., 162. 
Head, Albert, 57. 
Head, John F., 59. 
Heald, Charles M., 65. 
Heartt, R. D., 402. 
Heath, El bridge G., 60. 
Heath, John, 356. 
Heaton, Charles H., 61. 
Hecht, Jonas, 207. 
Heckethorn, 344. 
Hedges, Cornelius, 56, 68. 
Heilman, S., 164. 
Heineman, Hirsch, 207. 
Heiner, George, 282. 
Helena, mother of Constan- 

tine, 81. 
Heller, S. M., x. 
Heller, William, 206, 210. 
Helm, Meradith, 71. 
Hempstead, F. H., 55. 
Henderson, F., 65. 
Henderson, Matthias H., 64. 
Hennessy, J. C, x. 
Henry I., 2:2. 
Henry VIII., 270, 271, 274. 
Henry, James A., 56. 
Henry, Patrick, 356. 
Henry, William, x. 
Heraclius, 272. 
Herman, L., x. 
Hermann, Philip, 282. 
Hero, Andrew, Jr.. 58. 
Herrick, Charles W., 66. 
Herriford, J. E., x. 
Hersey, Freeman C, 61. 
Hess, James W., 65. 
Hewitt, Abram S., 241. 
Heyneman, Charles, 208. 
Heyzer, Charles H., 3, 62. 
Hibben, E. H., x. 
Hibbs. Philip F. D., 55. 
Hickman, J. J., 404. 
Hicks, Elias, 48. 
Hicks, Millard F., 60, 85. 
Higbee, Albert E., 58. 
Higby, William R., 60. 
Higginbotham, Marcus, 63. 
Higgins, Anthony, 340, 361. 
Highly, Francis M., 60. 
Hill, A. N.. 133. 
Hill, Frank B., 57. 
Hill, Howard F., 61. 
Hill, James A., 266, 280. 
Hill, R. C, 160, 161. 
Hill, Robert W., 57. 
Hills, C. T., 65. 
Hilsee, James M., 390. 
Himmelsbach, Jacob, 8. 
Himrod, William, 64. 
Hinckley, Eben S., 169. 
Hinckley, G. C, x. 
Hinckley, Sarah C, 169. 
Hine, Omar A., 63. 
Hinkley, Rufus H., 60. 
Hitchcock, C. F., 66. 
Hitman, Cyrus W., 58. 
Hitt, G. C, x. 
Hoadley, George, 64. 
Hobart, G. A., 95. 



Hobe, George J., 57. 
Hodge, J. B., 360. 
Hoffman. John T., 363. 
Hoke, William B., 139. 
Holden. S. F., x. 
Holliday, J. H.,66. 
Hollingsworth. George W., 

355. 
Hollister, A. H., 158. 
Hollister, Lillian M., 155, 164. 
Holman, O. D., x. 
Holman, William S., 96. 
Holmes, Americus V., 64. 
Holmes, Edwin B., 61. 
Holmes, M. B. x. 
Holt, Fred., 174. 
Holton, Eugene A., 61. 
Homan, William, 60. 
Home, John, 218. 
Homermiller, W. C, 194. 
Honour, John Henry, 48. 
Hooley, G. T., 66. 
Hooper, John, 95. 
Hopkins, A. W., x. 
Hopkins, Frank, 363. 
Hopkins, James H., 63. 
Hopson, J. W., 363. 
Horner, Levi, 164. 
Horton, W. Walter, 352. 
Horwood. William. 192. 
Hotchkiss, Charles A., 59. 
Hotchkiss, Edward A., 58. 
Houck, M. J., 64. 
Howard, George H., 169. 
Howard, George W., 379. 
Howard, Robertson, 360. 
Howe, Henry E., 366. 
Howell, Richard G., 313, 314. 
Hoy, A.B.,375. 
Hoyt, Henry L., 59. 
Hoyt, Henry M., 355. 
Hubbard, Charles L., 62. 
Hubbard, Samuel F.. 61. 
Hubbard, Warren C, 62. 
Hubbell, J. A., 348. 
Hubbell, Levi. 354. 
Hucless, Robert H., x, 6. 
Hudson, William B.. 404. 
Hudson, William G.. 65. 
Hugg, Mrs. S. D., 374. 
Hughan, W. J., 18, 39, 82, 85, 

103. 
Hughes, J. L., x. 
Hughes, John C, 314, 315. 
Hughes, Mary J., 216. 
Hughes, Rupert, 338. 
Hugo, Trevanion W., 58. 
Hulsart, C. B., 402. 
Hunde, Baron, 82. 
Hunn, Thomas, 354. 
Hnnn, Townsend S., 63. 
Hunt, John L. N.. 353. 
Hunt, J. S., 56. 
Hunt, Nathan P., 61. 
Hunter, Craig, 59. 
Hunter, John H., 354. 
Hunter, M. L.. 6. 
Huntington, Charles S., 59. 
Huntington. Eugene, 59. • 
Hurlburt, Stephen A., 369. 
Hurlburt. Vincent L.. 2. 90. 
Hurlburt, William H., 353. 
Husband, William E., 62. 
Huston, Alexander B., 64. 
Hutchins, E. R., 164. 
Hutchins, Waldo, 361. 
Hutchinson, Charles C, 60. 
Hutchinson, Charles H.. 360. 
Hutchinson, Charles L.. 65. 
Hyde, Orson, 71, 103. 
Hyslop, William, 364. 

Ide. Charles E.. 60. 
Iliff, W. S., 229. 
Inessmilch, F. L. Von, 66. 
Ingalls, John J., 96, 363. 
Ingle, Christopher, 57. 
Inglesby, C, 56. 
Ingram, B. H.. 188. 
Ireland, William M., 90, 395. 
Irvin, H. A., 65. 
Irving, E. B.,x, 67, 74. 
Irving, J. D., 161. 



INDEX TO PROPER NAMES 



439 



Irwin. J. D.. 197. 
Isaacson. Alfred H., 58. 
Iverson, John. 144. 
Ives, Brayton, 361. 

Jacobs, Abraham, 44, 48, 49, 

50, 54. 
Jacobs. Albert I .. 131, 361. 
Jacobs. William Boyd. 352. 
Jackson. Andrew, 14, 95, 331. 
Jackson. E. Gilbert, 66. 
Jackson, H. H., 296. 
Jackson. Isaac W., 354. 
Jackson. J. Henry, 61. 
Jackson, M., 65. 
Jackson. Stonewall, 376. 
Jackson. Thornton A., x, 49, 

67. 76. 
Jackson. W. H., 376. 
James II., 306. 
James IV.. 272. 273. 
James, Thomas L., 97, 403, 

404. 
Jamison. Henry, 164. 
Jarrett. John, 378. 
Jay, John. 348. 
Jeffers. Allen. 64. 
Jefferson. Joseph, 218. 
Jefferson, Thomas, 300, 312, 

327, 416. 
Jeffris, M. G.. 162, 163. 
Jenkins, Benjamin W., 58. 
Jennings. Joseph J., 62. 
Jewell, B. Wood. 194. 
Jewell. Marshall. 96. 
Jewett, William E., 65. 
Jewett. William P., 58. 
Johnson. Andrew. 95. 367, 396. 
Johnson, B. Arthur, 231, 232. 
Johnson. David M., 63. 
Johnson, Frances E.. 101. 
Johnson. Frank H.. 58. 
Johnson, G., 55. 
Johnson. George II., 122. 
Johnson, John O, 353. 
Johnson. John G.. 163. 
Johnson, John Taylor.361,380. 
Johnson, Miron W. 61 
Johnson, Richard M., 95. 
Johnson, Robert M.. 66. 
Johnson. William R., 57. 
Johnston, J. G.. x. 
Johnston. J. R.. 65. 
Johnston. Ovid F.. 300. 
Johnstone. George C. 64. 
July. 78. 
Jonas. A., 71. 
Jones, Austin. 260. 
Jones. C. C. x. 
Jones, C. R.. x. 
Jones, Charles M., 58. 
Jones. Edwin P., 62. 
Jones, Florin L.. 57. 
Jones. Henry. 207. 
Jones. John. 356. 
Jones. John G., 6, 67. 
Jones. Peter. 145. 
Jones. Wallace. 288. 
Jones. William T.. 243. 
Jordan. Isaac M., 362. 
Jordan. Lord of Briset, 272. 
Judd. Orange, 361. 
Judge. W. q.. 104, 108. 109, 

110. 
Judson, E. Z. O, 318. 

Kalakaua, King. 95. 
Kales, Marten W.. 56. 
Kanouse. Theodore D.. 404. 
Kane. Elisha K.. 96. 
Kanr. Immnnnel, 4. 
Kastor, H. W.. 283. 
Katzenstein, George B., 404. 
Kauffman, Andrew J.. 85. 
Kantrowitz, Joshua. 208. 
Kayser. Abraham, 210. 
Keanev, Patrick F., 213. 
Keen, A. A., 56. 
Keene, Louis McL., 59. 
Keene, Robert W., 390. 
Keifer. Charles C. 64. 
Keightley. Archibald, 109, 
110. 



Keightley, Bertram, 105. 
Keif, Oscar, 57. 
Keilev, John D.. 213. 
Keliher. Sylvester, x, 379. 383. 
Kelley, O. H.. 395. 396. 
Kelley, William D., 96. 
Kellogg. A. J.. 65. 
Kellogg. Andrew H.. 4. 
Kellough. Thomas. 61. 
Kells, Charles Edmund. 58. 
Kelsev. Albert H.. 61. 
Kemeys-Tynte. Colonel, 39. 
Kendall. Hugh H.. 63. 
Kendrick, Edmund P.. 61. 
Kendrick, George W.. Jr., 

64. 
Kennedy, Charles. 327. 
Kennedy, Emi. 172. 202. 
Kennedy, H. A.. 65. 
Kennedy. Joseph S., 390. 
Kennedy. Samuel B., 64. 
Kenney. M. B.. 193. 
Kenny, W. P.. 66. 
Kent. Duke of. 23. 
Kent, Henry O., 61. 
Kenyon, George H.. 60. 
Kenyon, William J. O, ?9. 
Kerr, James. Jr., 64. 
Kerr, John W.. 362. 
Kerr. Mark G.. 277.278. 
Kerrigan, John T., 216. 
Keyes, A. E.. 168. 
Keyser, P. D.. 372. 
Kiezer. C. P., 161. 
Kilvinirton. Samuel S., 58. 
Kimball. E. S.. 263. 
Kimball, Heber C. 71. 
Kimpton. C. W., x. 
King. CM., x. 
King. D. L., 64. 
King, Edmund B., 65. 
King, Henry. 207. 
King, Horatio ('.. 360. 
King. Kendall W. L.. 56. 
King, Marquis F.,60. 85. 
King, Preston. 854. 
Kingsland, W.. 111. 
Kingston. C. W.. x. 
Kinsley. Edward V.. 352. 
Kinsley. George II.. 61. 
Kinsman. David N., 60. 
Kirk, P.. L92. 
Kirker. G. A.. 174. 175. 
Kirker. G. P., 192. 
Kirker. James. 62. 
Kirkpatrick, W. B.. 164. 
Kite, Thomas. 65. 
Kittrell. L. A., x. 
Kling. Henry, 207. 
Knapp. Christian F., 63. 
Kneisley. Charles O, 59. 
Knight. Jesse, 60. 
Knight. William M., 66. 
Knitore. Earl of. 86. 
Knowles. Edwin. 62. 
Knowles, Thomas O. 275. 276, 

277. 
Knowlton. Julius W.. 62. 
Knowlton. Roswell W.. 59. 
Knox. Henrv. 370. 373. 
Knox. J. J.. 363. 
Knox. John. 273. 274. 
Knox. John R.. 349. 
Kohler, W.. 282. 
Kolm. Friedman, 208. 
Koon. Valentine, 207. 
Kopmeier. George. 58. 
Korty, Lewis H.. 59. 
Kramer. Frederick. 56. 
Kramer, Leopold, 206. 
Krape, W. W., x. 
Krause. F. H.. 399. 
Kuhn, Ceorse R.. 213, 214. 
Kuhn, Henry H.. 64. 
Kuhn. J. R.. x. 
Kuntz, John S., 369. 

Lacey. Samuel P., 164. 
Lacey. Thomas B., 57. 
La Chelle. Huet, 44. 
Ladd, W. E.. 142. 
Lafayette, Marquis de, 95, 
242. 333. 



Laflin, J. W.. 56, 66. 
Lakin, JohnH., 61. 
Lamb, Artemus. 57. 
Lamb, E. F., x, 174, 192. 
Lamberson, Samuel L., 353. 
Lambert, J. Leavitt, 63. 
Lambert, Richard, 56, 58. 
Lamprey. A. A., 184. 
Lancaster. Henry H.. 66. 
JLand. Robert E. A., 220. 266, 

267, 275. 
Lander, W. F., x. 
Lane, James. 313. 314. 
Lane, W. G., 405. 
Langdon. Burton E.. 58. 
Langdon. Frederick S.. 57. 
Langfelt. August. 57. 
Langfitt, J. A., 164. 
Lansburgh. James. 57. 
Larabee. Henry C. 58. 
Larmenius. 37. 38. 40. 
Lashorn. Millard H., 58. 
Lask, Harry J., 57. 
Latham, Lorenzo. 347. 
Lathe, Lenora F„ 169. 
Laughton. Charles E., 59. 
Laurent, A.. 48. 
Lawler, Thomas G.. x. 369. 
Lawless. William J., 62. 
Lawrence, B. B.. 169. 
Lawrence, Daniel W.. 61. 
Lawrence. Frank R., 62. 
Lawrence, G. E., x. 
Lawrence. R D.. x. 
Lawrence. Samuel C. 60, 90. 
Lawrence. William B., 61. 
Lawrison. Samuel C. 353. 
Lawson. W. H.. 288. 
Leach, Joshua A.. 383. 
Leadbeater. C. W.. 109, 111. 
Leahy. David T.. 213. 
Leahy, J. P.. xi. 
Leahv. Thomas, xi, 67. 83. 
Le Caron. 413. 
Lechangenr. 78. 
Lee, James G. C. 57. 59. 
Lee. J. P.. xi. 
Lee, Richard Henry, 95. 
Lee, William II.. 184. 
Leighty, Jacob D.. (55. 
Leisersohn, Leonard, xi, 209. 
Lemmon. R. C. 04. 
Lenbert, J. G.. xi. 
Lenhart. Philip F.. 2. 
Lenzarder. B. T.. 66. 
Leo XII.. Pope. 10. 
Leo XIII.. Pope. 10, 35. 
Leonard. D. H.. 214. 
Lerch, G. L.. xi. 
Leroy, Lewis G.. 59. 
Lester. J. C.. 419. 421. 
Letterman. W. H.. 359. 
Levering. Anthony Z., 58. 
Levi. A. L.. 160. 
Levin. Nathaniel. 56. 
Levy. Aaron. 206. 
Levy. Ferdinand, xi. 210. 
Levv. Magnus, xi. 206. 
Lew. Samuel W.. 57. 
Lewenstein, Carl L., 206. 
Lewis. C. T.. 65. 
Lewis. James H., 6. 
Lewis, W. T.. 288 
Leyman. N. X.. 168. 
Libbey. Oliver, 66. 
Liepman. Joseph H., 58. 
Lightfoot. E. A.. 266. 
Lightfoot. John A.. 366. 
Lilienthal, Rev. Dr.. 207. 
Lincoln. Abraham. 129. 209. 

372. 
Lincoln. Robert T.. 352. 
Linden. Robert J.. 64. 
Lindley, John Wolfe. 359. 
Lindsav. George W.. 265. 
Lines, H. Wales, 62. 
Linn. T. B.. 171. 
Linthicum, C. O, 164. 
Linton. David, 349. 
Linton, John P., 265. 
Linton. W. S.. 185. 
Lippard, George, 300. 
Lippitt, Costello, 62. 



Lister. Richard, 222. 
Lister. T. B., 282. 
Litchfield, Earl of, 226. 
Litchman. Charles H., 239. 
Litter. Count, 271. 
Little. David H., 353. 
Little. Robert Wentworth. 86. 
Littlejohn, Abram N., 361. 
Littlejohn, N. M., 66. 
Livermore. Mary A., 309. 
Livezej r , Thomas E., 58. 
Livingston, James H., 165. 
Livingston. Philip. 95. 
Livingston. Robert R.. 95. 
Livingston, William E.. 61. 
Livingstone. William, Jr.. 65. 
Lloyd. Charles. 193. 
Lloyd, Daniel D., 362. 
Lloyd. James H., 63. 
Lloyd. Reuben H.. 57. 
Lobel. Lazarus, 208. 
Lockard, L. B., xi. 
Locke, Joseph A., 60. 
Lockwood. Daniel N., 364. 
Lockwood. W. O. 200. 
Lockwood, William L., 362. 
Loder, George F.. 2. 
Lodet. Sir Jean, 183. 
Lodge, Henry Cabot, 353. 
Loewenstein. E., xi. 
Logan. J. E., 169. 
Logan, John A.. 96. 367, 369. 
Logan. Samuel B., 169. 
Logan. Thomas W.. 6. 
Loker. William N.. 58. 
Lombard. Thomas R., 62. 
Long. John D.. 352. 
Long. Hvman I., 44, 50. 
Long. Odel S., 56. 
Long, Samuel A., 299. 
Long, Thomas B.. 65. 
Loockerman. Thomas G.. 57. 
Loomis, Albert C, 169. 
Loomis, A. L., 364. 
Loomis, Edward J., 62. 
Loomis, Henry C, 58. 
Lorillard. Pierre, 62. 
Lorimer. George C, 66. 
Lorincr. George B., 361. 
LoseyTM. D.^172. 
Louis Philippe. 271. 
Loverimr. Joseph F., 377. 
Lowe. Jacob S.. 353. 
Lowell, James R., 348. 
Lowry, David. 375. 
Luce. Frank M., 66. 
Lucian, 356. 
Lunstedt. II.. xi. 
Luscomb. Charles H.. 63. 
Luthin. O. L. F.. xi. 
Lntz. Isaac D.. 63. 
Lyman, Amasa. 71. 
Lyon. D. Murray, xi. 18, 103. 
Lyre. Eliphalet O., 64. 
Lyte. Joshua L.,64. 
Lyttle. La Fayette, 64. 

MacArthur, Arthur. 62. 
Macaulev. Robert O, 390. 
Macbeth. F. D., 142. 
MacGregorv. J. F.. 97. 
MacGrotty.~ Edwin B., 57. 
Mack. Max J.. 64. 
MacKenzie, William Lyon. 

421. 
Mackey, A. G., 15. 18. 37. 43 

47. 78. 88. 90, 99. 104. 
Mackey. John W., 96. 
Mackey, L.. xi. 
MacLellan. Daniel M.. C2. 
Macomb. John N.. (52. 
Macoy, Robert, 75, 98, 10Q 

101 : 
Macy, John P.. 57. 
Madden. W. W.. 6. 
Madison. James. 312. 
Magee, Charles D., 102. 
Magee, Christopher, 353. 
Magill, J. R.. xi. 
Mahomet. Thomas P., 6. 
Mahonev, J. R.. xi. 
Major. John O. 58. 
Major. Patrick U., 351. 



440 



INDEX TO PROPER NAMES 



Malcolm IV., 272. 
Malcolm, Philip S., 59. 
Malcolm, S. L., xi. 
Mai ins, Joseph, 405. 
Mallard. B. Q.. xi. 
Mallet, Edmund B.. Jr., 60. 
Mallory, George, 338. 
Maloney. Louis, 162, 164. 
Maloney, Eichard M.. 59. 
Manchester, Mrs. I. C, 309. 
Mauderson. Charles T.,96. 
Mann, D. H., xi, 405. 
Manning, Joseph A., 65. 
Marble, Manton, 348. 
Marconis, Jacques Etienne, 

78, 79. 
Marion, Francis, 95. 
Marius, &56. 
Markey, D. P.. xi. 
Marois, A., 192. 
Marquette. Father, 297. 
Marsh. Ephraim, 305. 
Marsh, Henry C, 61. 
Marshall, Alfred. 349. 
Marshall, John, 95, 96. 
Marshall. Samuel T.. 349. 
Marshall. Thomas R., 66. 
Marshall, Wyzeman. 61. 
Marston. Arlington B., 60. 
Martin (" successor to Mo- 

rin"), 46. 
Martin, A. T.. 197. 
Martin, Adam W., 169. 
Martin, Charles R., 393. 
Martin, Leonora M., 169. 
Martin. Sidney, 59. 
Martin, William H., 169. 
Martindale, Edward, 360. 
Marx, Karl, 390. 
Mason, E. C, xi, 188. 
Mason, J. J., xi. 
Mason, J. W..xi. 
Mason, John, 353. 
Mason. Joseph, xi. 
Mason. William Castein, 60. 
Masten, Joseph J.. 353. 
Matter, Charles F., 85. 
Matthew, John O., 124. 
Matthews, E. W., 64. 
Matthews, Stanley M.. 350. 
Matthews. William J., 63. 
Maulsby, D. L.. xi. 
May, John A.. 66. 
May, W. H.. xi. 
Maybury, W. O, 65. 
Mayer, Gustavus W., 350. 
Mayer, Jacob. 59. 
Mayer, John F.. 56. 
Maynard. G. V.. 108. 
Maynard. Horace, 348. 
Mayo, William H.. 56, 58. 
May worm, Joseph, 65. 
Mazzini. 4. 
McAmbley. C. F., 197. 
McBath, M. C, 161. 
McBride, E. J., 142. 
McCahon, James, 60. 
McCarroll, F.. xi. 
McCarthy. Charles. 193. 
McCarty. John T.. 362. 
McCash, James. 278. 
McCleary, Alexander J.. 175. 
MeClees, Levi B., 64. 
McClellan. George B.. 95. 
McClenachan. Charles T.. xi. 

2, 18, 28. 43. 85, 87. 90. 
McClintock. Charles. 219. 220. 
McClintock, E. S., xi, 164, 

267. 
McClure, Charles H., 321. 
McClurg, John. Jr.. xi. 
McCollum, C. A., 164. 
McConihe. Samuel. 59. 
McConnell. James. 175. 
McCoy, Hamilton, 172. 
McCrae, Philip A., 164. 
McCreary. J. B . 96. 
McCune. John P., 65. 
McCurdy, Hugh, 40, 60, 85. 
McDaniel, John R., 90. 
McDermott, D. J.. 424. 
McDermott, Fenton L., 58. 
McDonald, Alexander, 48. 



McDonald, D.. 243. 
McDonald, Joseph E.. 350. 
McDowell. F. M., 395, 396. 
McDowell. Simon V., 62. 
McEnery, S. D.. 360. 
McFadden, Robert H., 351. 
McFatrick, James B., 66. 
McGechin, Thomas H., 194. 
McGee. James. 62. 
McGee, M. B.. 65. 
McGill, Alexander T.. 297. 
McGivny, Michael J., 216. 
McGown, George. 62. 
McGuire, John C. 213. 
Mcintosh. H. P.. 65. 
McKean, Thomas C. 267. 
McKee. J. Frank, 63. 
McKee, William J., 66. 
McKeever. William P., 192. 
McKillip. Harvev A.. 64. 85. 
McKinley, Thomas S.. 65. 
McKinley, William. 95, 296, 

329. 
McKinstry. J. M.. 164. 
McLane. Allan. 354. 
McLaren. John. 66. 
McLaughlin. J. J., xi. 
McLaurey. Thomas C. 353. 
McLean, Alexander, xi, 66. 
McLean, James W.. 341. 
McLean, John, Jr., 350. 
McLean, William A.. 56. 
McLellan, Archibald, 66. 
McLellan. David, 79. 
McMaster. John Bach. 352. 
McMurtry. E. M..228. 
McNamee. James T., 192. 
McXeir. Laura. 374. 
McParlin, James. 425. 
McVeagh. Franklin. 340. 
McVeagh, Wayne, 352. 
Meacham. G. A.. 97. 
Mead, G. R. 6., 105, 109, 110, 

111. 
Medairy. J. H.. 56. 
Meech. J. H.. 161. 
Meeks, John W.. 189. 
Meigs. Alfred E.. 65. 
Melish, T. J.. 64. 
Melish. William B., 64. 
Melvin. T. J.. 197. 
Mendelssohn. Moses. 208. 
Mendenhall, B., xi, 70. 71, 

350. 
Mercer. John J.. 59. 
Meredith. Gilmor. 56. 
Meredith. William B.. 64. 
Merkel. Philip. 234. 235. 282. 
Merrill. George S.. 369. 
Merrill. Giles W.. 58. 
Merrill, Jonathan A., 60. 
Merritt. James B., 57. 
Mertz. William. 8. 
Merz. S.. 234. 
Merzbacher. Leo. 207. 
Metcalf. A. T., 60. 85. 
Metcalf. George E.. 58. 
Metcalf, Oscar M.. 58. 
Metternich. Prince. 312. 
Metzel, George V., 137. 
Meyer, Charles E.. 87. 
Meyers. John G. II.. 164. 
Meyers. J. W., 164, 168. 
Michie. William. 64. 
Mildrum. John. 314. 
Miles, C. S.. 402. 
Millar. George W.. 2, 62. 
Millard. Alden C. 66. 
Millard, Orson. 164. 
Miller. Charles E.. 364. 
Miller. DeLaskie. 66. 
Miller, D. McL.. 66. 
Miller. Matthew M.. 57. 
Miller, Eobert T.. 58. 
Miller. Warner. 96. 
Milligan, W. L. E.. 66. 
Millman. Thomas. 164. 
Mills, A. G., xi. 
Mills, Edward. 63. 
Milner, John. 251. 
Miner, S. L., xi, 200. 
Mirabeau. 4. 
Missimer, W. S., 383. 



Mitchell, C. W., xi. 
Mitchell, Donald G.. 343. 
Mitchell, John, 44, 45. 49, 50. 
Mitchell, John, 79. 
Mitchell, John G.. 137, 164. 
Mitchell, Samuel L.. 240. 
Mitchell, S. B. W.. 360. 372. 
Mitchell. William Starr, 231. 
Mitchner. Garrett. 314. 
Moffitt, J. B., 175. 
Mohammed. 4. 
Monachesi. H. D., 104. 
Monahan, James, xi. 
Monell, John J.. Jr.. 58. 
Montague, Duke of. 22. 
Montesquieu, 9. 95. 
Montgomery, Isaac S.. 66. 
Montgomery, T.. 56. 
Montross, R. W.. 65. 
Mooney. William. 326. 
Moore, Barbara B.. 366. 
Moore, Charles P. T., 359. 
Moore. E. T.. xi. 
Moore. F. M., 65. 
Moore, George F., 56. 
Moore, James M.. 404. 
Moore. John A.. 2. 
Moore, Joseph O. 63. 
Moore, Robert B., xi. 
Moore, Sidney, 64. 
Moore, Thomas, 63. 
Moore, W. J. B. McL., 85, 86. 
Moorman, George, xi. 
Mordecai. Thomas M.. 59. 
Mordhurst. Henry W., 56, 66. 
Morgan, Albert. 164. 
Morgan, Charles B., 288. 
Morgan. John T. 96. 
Morgan. J. H., 412. 
Morgan. William. 8, 13. 15, 32, 

179. 231. 346, 420. 
Morgan. William. Mrs., 72. 
Monarty, Albert P.. 2. 
Morin, Stephen. 28. 43. 44, 45, 

50. 
Morris. E.. 64. 
Morris. John W., 60. 
Morris, Eobert. 79, 99. 100, 

101. 
Morrison. P. H.. 383. 
Morrison. Eobert, 359. 
Morrison. William. 278. 
Morrow. Thomas E., 58. 
Morse, F. A , 64. 
Morse, H.H.,xi. 162.189. 
Morse, Oliver A., 347. 
Morst. Charles S.. 59. 
Morton. James. 57. 
Morton, Oliver P., 96, 260, 

350, 419. 
Moscowitz. Mayer, 210. 
Moses. J. B.. 192. 
Moss. L. J.. 194. 
Moss, E. E., 164. 
Mott, J. L.. xi. 
Mott. J. Varnum, 196. 
Mott. V., xi. 
Moulton. George M., 66. 
Mover. Henrv A., 65. 
Muckle. Mark E.. 63. 
Muhlenburg. F. A., 95. 
Mulford, J. M.. xi. 
Mull. George F.. xi. 
Mullen, James T., 216. 
Mulligan. John, xi, 164. 
Mulligan. E. E.. xi. 
Mulliken, Henry. 61. 
Mulliner, E. S., 66. 
Mumford, Charles C, 62. 
Mundie, P. J., xi. 
Munger. Frank E.. xii. 164. 
Munn, Loyal L., 66, 148. 
Munroe, Thomas. 65. 
Munroe. Timothy, 13. 
Murphy. John. 411. 
Murray, J. M.. 314. 
Murrav. Mary A.. 216. 
Murrow, J. S., 56. 
Myens, A. B., 184. 
Myer, Albert J.. 355. 
Myer. Allen O.. xii, 229. 
Myers, Eugene B., 66. 
Myers, Joseph, 44. 



Myhan. Eobert, 213. 
Myrick, Herbert W., xii. 

Nash. Charles W., 58. 
Nash. Francis B.. 59. 
Nason, Edwin H., xii. 
Naylor. Allison, Jr., 57. 
Needham, James F.. xii. 
Nelson, Benjamin F.. 58, 162, 

164. 
Nelson, Halvor. 161. 
Nelson, Samuel. 162. 
Nelson, Thomas. Jr., 95. 
Nembach, Andrew, 64. 
Nembersrer. B.. 206. 
Nero, Emperor. 286. 
Nesbit. Michael, xii, 189. 
Nesbitt, C. A.. 59. 67, 103. 
Nest. William M.. 97. 
New. Harry S.. 363. 
Newhall. Charles C. 62. 
Newell, George A.. 63. 
Newell. Henry. 59. 
Newell. John T.. 63. 
Newton. H. J.. 104, 189. 
Niblack. Mason J.. 66. 
Nichols, AlbroF..61. 
Nichols, Alonzo S.. 66. 
Nichols, Edward W. L.. 61. 
Nichols. John, xii. 
Nichols, Sayles, 61. 
Nicholson, Daniel N, 61. 85. 
Nicholson, James B., xii. 
Nicholson. John P.. xii. 374. 
Nickerson, J. B.. 172. 
Nickerson, Sereno D., 56, 61. 
Nielsen. Eennus. xii. 
Niles, William Woodruff. 361. 
Nimmo, Joseph, Jr., 364. 
Noah, Mordecai M., 208. 
Noble, Horace A.. 63. 
Noeckel. A. G.. xii. 
North, A. A.. 366. 
Northcott, W A., xii. 158, 164. 
Northrop, Aaron L., 2, 62. 
Norton, John E.. C6. 
Norton. Jonathan D., 58. 
Norwood, Abel J.. 58. 
Noteware. C. N. 56. 
Nott. John C. 184. 
Noyes, Charles J.. 364. 
Noyes. Edward F., 348. 
Noyes, Edward L.. 169. 
Noyes, Isaac P.. 57. 
Noyes, Mary C, 169. 
Nun. Eichard J., 56. 
Nvbrogatan, A. Zettersten, 

106. 
Nye, Mortimer, 65. 

Oakes, Henry W.. xii. 
Oaklev. Isabel Cooper, 109. 
Oakley. Eoland H.. 58. 
O'Brien. Fitz James. 364. 
O'Brien, Eussell G., 59. 
Ochs, Jacques, 80. 
O'Connell, James, xii. 
O'Connell, Matthew C, 216. 
O'Conner, Annie. 216. . 
O'Connor. P. J., xii. 211. 
Oddi, J. S.. xii. 
Odiorne. James O. 15. 
O'Ferrall. Charles T.. 204. 
Ogden, Peter. 236. 
Olcott. Henry Steele, 104, 

107. 108, 110, 111. 
Old. Walter E.. 111. 
Oliphant. Lawrence, 17. 
Oliver, Edward, xii. 
Oliver. George. Eev., 99. 
Oliver, Isaac J.. 409. 
Oliver, John W.. 409. 
Olney. Hervey A.. 59. 
O'Mahoney. John. 415. 
O'Neil, John, 66. 
Openheimer, Louis M.. 59. 
Orahood, Harper M.. 57. 
Orne, J. H.. 404. 
Oronhyatekha. M. D., xii, 

140, 164, 405. 
O'Rourke. J. J.. 214. 
O'Eourke. William, xii. 
Osborn, J. W.. 65. 



INDEX TO PROPER NAMES 



441 



Otis, James, 95. 
Oviedio. Sir Herman, 183. 
Oxnard, Thomas, 26. 
Ozias, A. N., 133. 

Pace, E. C, 66. 
Packard. James. 394. 
Page, Charles. 59. 
Page. Edward D.. 64, 135. 
Page, Thomas Nelson, 353. 
Page, Walter H., 172, 349. 
Paige, Clinton F., 60. 
Paine, Milton K., 61. 
Paine. Thomas. 241, 311, 416. 
Pait, James L., 322. 
Pallon. Charles L.. 57. 
Palmer. Alanson. xii, 197. 
Palmer. George W.. xii, 327. 
Palmer. Henry L., 49, 60, 90. 
Palmer, John. 369. 
Palmer, John M., 96, 367. 
Palmer. Thomas M.. 351. 
Palmer, Thomas W.. 65. 
Palmer, W. J., 185. 
Palmer, W. S., 164. 
Palmer. William T., 62. 
Pancoast, E. H., xii. 
Pancoast, S., 104. 
Pankin, Charles F„ 59. 
Papineau, Joseph Louis, 421. 
Park, William A., 57. 
Parker, B. F.. xii. 
Parker, George W., 57. 
Parker, Henry L., 62. 
Parker, Richard H., 62. 
Parkman, Francis, 348. 
Pannalee, Edward C, 56, 57. 
Parmele. Elisha, 357. 
Parsons, J. B.. 64. 
Parsons. John E., 363. 
Parsons. John P.. 5s. 
Parsons. John W., 04. 
Partlow, William H., 172. 
Parvin. Newton R.. 57. 
Parvin. T. S.. IS. 40. 56. 73. 
Pascal. Dr.. 110. 
Paschalis. Martinez, 98. 
Passon. David, 58. 
Paton, A. H.. xii. 
Patrick, Benjamin F., 66. 
Patten, James. 277. 
Patterson, George. 57. 
Patterson, Robert E., 60. 
Paterson, William S., 2.3. 4, 

62. 
Patton. A. G.. 64. 
Patton, Abner E., 362. 
Patton. Thomas R., 63, 85. 
Patton. William. 327. 
Paul I., 271. 
Paul 111.. 270. 
Paxton. Thomas C, 59. 
Pearce, George H., 219. 
Pearce, Willard A.. 62. 
Pearson, A. L., xii. 375. 
Pearson, Charles D., 172. 
Pearson, John Mills. 66. 
Pearson, William, 123. 
Peary. R. E.. 96. 
Pease, Levi C. 183. 
Peaslee, JohnB.. 200. 
Peck, CuihbertE., 86. 
Peck, Edwards.. 164. 
Peck, George W., 96. 
Peckham, Rufns W., 354. 
Peckham, William H., 55. 
Peckinpaugh. T. E., xii. 
Peel, Sir Robert. 272. 
Peffer. William A., 96. 
Peixotto, Benjamin F., 207. 
Peixotto. M. L. M., 50. 
Pellin, J. F.. xii. 
Pelton, F. W.. 64. 
Penley, Albert M., 60. 
Penn, William. 239. 
Pepper, William P., 364. 
Percey, George Henry, 183. 
Percival. Frederick A., 57. 
Perkins, E. C, xii. 
Perkins. Henry, 65. 
Perkins, Henry P., 61. 
Perkins. Marsh O., 60, 85. 
Pernetty, 30. 



Perpener, Anthony S., 235. 
Perry, J. A., xii. 
Perry, O. H. P., 293. 
Peny. Robert J., 57. 
Perry, William Stevens, 96. 
Peter. George A.. 243. 
Peter the Hermit. 268. 
Peterkin, Peter C, 278. 
Peters, A. C, xii. 
Peters, Augustus W.. 3, 62. 
Peters, Charles R., 193. 
Peters, S. R., 303. 
Petrie, William M.. 57. 
Petter, Frank S., xii. 164. 
Pettibone, Amos, 60. 
Pettigrew, G. A., 56. 
Pfafflin. H. C, 65. 
Phelon. W. P., 104. 
Phelps. A. Alanson, 200. 
Phelps. John S., 366. 
Phelps. Sheffield. 340. 
Phelps. William Walter. 340. 

361. 
Philip. Duke of Orleans. 37. 
Phillips. E. S., xii. 
Phillips, William H., 390. 
Philo, 356. 
Piatt, J. J., 363. 
Pickering. Timothy, 312. 
Pickrell, F. H., 197. 
Pierce, Charles L. J. W.. 57. 
Pierce. William F.. 56. 
Pierson. Charles W.. 397. 398. 
Pike. Albert, 18, 45. 4s. 49. 73. 

74, 90, 96. 100. 
Pike, George W., 310. 
Pinckard, George J.. 58. 
Pinckney. Charles C, 312. 
Piper. C. L.. 142. 
Pirkev. Stephen, 188. 
Pius VII., Pope, 10. 
Pixley. George W.. 65. 
Plant, David A., 378. 
Piatt, O. II.. 96. 
Piatt. Thomas C, 96. 
Plot, Robert. 14. 
Plumacher. Eugene H., 59. 
Plumb. Hiram W.. 62. 
Plumley. Horatio O., 59 
Plummer. Moses C. til. 
Polk, James K.. 95. 
Polk. L. L.. 886. 
Pollard. Arthur G.. 61. 
Pomeroy. ('. EL, 66. 
Pomeroy. Richard A.. 57. 
Pond. Henry H.. 66. 
Pool, Frederick L., 169. 
Pope. Seth L., 59. 
Popper, H.. xii. 
Porcher. William L.. 420. 
Porter, Albert G., 35ii. 
Porter. Cyrus K.. 161, 408. 
Porter, E. H., xii. 
Porter, George L., (i2. 
Porter, George N., 363. 
Porter, John Addison. 329, 

330, 341. 
Posner, Abraham. 208. 
Post, August, xii. 385. 
Potter, Clarkson X.. 361. 
Potter, Eliphalet N., 355. 
Potter, Henry C. 63, 96. 
Poulson, William E.. 66. 
Pound. JohnE.. 164, 181. 
Powell, Andrew. 317. 
Powell, J. B. R,. xii. 
Powell. Milton E., 58. 
Powell. M. V.. xii. 
Power, J. L., 56. 
Power, Maurice J., 241. 
Powderly, T. V., 392. 394. 
Prall, William, 131. 
Prall. William A.. 101. 
Prasad. Rama, 111. 
Pratt. Irving W., 56. 
Pratt, Orson. 71. 72. 
Pratt, Orson, Mrs., 72. 
Pratt, Parley P.. 71, 103. 
Pratts, Jose Alaban y, 58. 
Prentice, George D., 96. 
Prescott, Joel H., Jr., 63. 
Prevost, August, 44, 50. 
Price, Henry, 26. 



Price, Justin F., 164. 
Price, Sterling, 420. 
Prichard, Samuel, 14. 
Prince. Edward, 366. 
Pritchard, Truman S., 63. 
Pruett, John W., 58. 
Pungs, William A., 131. 
Purdy, Warren T.,66. 
Putnam. Israel, 95. 
Putnam, James O., 348. 
Pythagoras, 21. 22, 107, 285, 
356. 

Quackenbush, Marvin, 158. 
Quantrell. Jacob. 96. 
Quarles. Greenfield. 363. 
Quay, M. S.. 96, 130. 
Quayle. Mark. 58. 
Quick. John. 405. 
Quimby, Henry B., 60. 
Qnincy. Josiati, 96. 
Quintard, Eli S., 62. 

Rader, Frank. 57. 
Ralph, D. Clark, 180. 
Ramsay, Chevalier, 9, 35. 
Barusey. Frederick M., 66. 
Ramsey. W. M., xii. 
Randall. John H., 58. 
Randall, Samuel J.. 96. 
Randall. Theop. W.. 56. 
Randolph. Alfred M.. 364. 
Eandolph, Edmund. 96. 312. 
Randolph. Peyton. 95. 
Rankin, Charles S., 66. 
Ranney. Henry C. 66. 
Ranshaw. Henrv. 58. 
Rathbone. Justus H., 263, 

264, 265, 274. 
Raviler, George. 202. 
Rawalt. Benjamin F.. 59. 
Rawlins, John A., 365. 
Rawson, A. L., 2. 
Ray, Frank G.. 57. 
Ray. Peter W.. xii. 76. 
Raymond. E. A.. 49. 51. 52. 
Raymond, George E., 60. 
Raymond, George H.. 97. 
Raymond. John M.. 61. 
Rea, John P.. 369. 
Read. J. Meredith. 848. 
Read. Samuel. 265. 
Reason, Patrick H., 76, 236. 

237. 
Reaugh,R. S. C. 188. 
Reckley. R. R.. 64. 
Red Jacket (Indian chief), 

181. 
Redstone, A. E.. 310. 
Redway. T. II. R., 56. 
Reece, J. N., 158, 164. 
Reed, Charles E.. 160. 
Reed, T. M.. 56, 59. 
Reed, Thomas B.. 351. 
Reeve, S. Lansing, xii, 293. 
Regensbergh, I., 208. 
Reid, Whirelaw. 352. 
Reinecke. William, 58. 
Reinhard. John G.. 133. 
Renau, William. 207. 
Revere. Paul, 95, 241. 323. 
Reynolds. David C, 204. 
Reynolds, George A.. 185. 
Reynolds, John F.. 192. 
Reynolds, W. D.. xii. 
Reynolds. Warren G.. 56, 61. 
Rhodes, George H.. 61. 
Rhodes, Henry L., 66. 
Rhodocanakis, Prince, 86, 

103. 
Rice, A. H., 361. 
Rice, M. H., 65. 
Rice, Walter A., 180. 
Richard, James A. B., 322. 
Richards, Euerene H., 61. 
Richards, William, 71. 
Richardson, Albert L., 61. 
Richardson, James D., 56,96. 
Richardson, John W., 62. 
Richardson, Lloyd D., 66. 
Richardson, William, 97. 
Richardson, William A., 61. 
Richardson, William E., 58. 



Rickon, Frederick J. H., 56. 
Ridings, C. C, xii. 
Ridings, G. C, 184. 
Riesenberger, A., xii. 
Rigden. Sidney. 71. 
Riggs, Joseph E., 164. 
Righter, Chester N., 352. 
Riley, J. M., 363. 
Ripka, A. A., 360. 
Ritchey, J. E., 188. 
Ritner, Joseph, 14. 
Roberts, Andrew, 58. 
Roberts. Ellis H., 340, 348. 
Robie. W. J., 65. 
Robinson. C. H., xii. 
Robinson, Eugene A., 58. 
Robinson, J. C, 369. 
Robinson. James F., 56. 
Robinson, John, 14. 
Robinson, John C, 62. 
Robinson. W. A., xii. 
Robinson. W. D.. 380. 
Robinson. William E., 361. 
Robinson, Simon W., 49, 52, 

55. 
Robson, W. O.. 164, 186. 
Rockefeller. Charles M., 59. 
Rodacher. Reuben. 207. 
Rodgers, W. O.. 104. 
Rodmann. Th., 234. 
Rodrigues. F. de P.. xii. 
Rogers, Andrew Watt, 359. 
Rogers. Ardivan W., 359. 
Rogers, B. F., 172. 
Rogers. Charles D.. 66. 
Rogers, Edward L., 355. 
Rogers, Henry W., 193. 
Rogers, L. W., 379. 
Rogers, W. O., 165. 
Rollins, Daniel G., 361. 
Ronemus, F. L., xii, 383. 
Ronemus. W. H.. 383. 
Roome, Charles. 90. 
Roome. Henry C. 63. 
Roome, William Oscar, 57, 67. 
Rooney. John, 213. 
Roose, F. F., xiii, 134, 194. 
Roose. William S., 57. 
Roosevelt. Theodore, 352. 
Root, Elihu. 303. 
Root. J. Cullen, xiii, 157, 165, 

104. 
Root. John G., 62. 
Root. Oren, 97. 
Root, Russell C. 317. 
Roper. George W., 75. 
Rosecrans, W. S., 365. 
Rosenbaum, Charles E., 56. 
Rosenbourgh, Isaac. 207. 
RosenstocK, Samuel W., 57. 
Rosenthal B., xiii. 
Rosenthal, H., xiii. 
Rosenthal, M., xiii. 
Roskruge, George J., 55, 56. 
Ross, Apollos M., (34. 
Rosa, James C, xiii, 266. 
Ross, T. A., xiii. 
Ross, William, 405. 
Ross, William G., 213. 
Rossa, O'Donovan, 415. 
Rothblum, S., 192. 
Rothschild, Baruch, 207. 
Roundy. Frank C, 66. 
Rousseau, J. J., 9. 241, 311. 
Roussell, Edward, xiii. 
Row, T. Subba, 111. 
Rowan. John, 96. 
Rowell. Benjamin W.. 61,67, 

85. 
Rowley, Charles N., 363. 
Royse, W. T., 190. 
Ruckle. Nicholas R., 60. 
Rudulph, John B., 362. 
Rugh, W. J., xiii. 
Rundle, Nathan B.. 60. 
Runkle, Benjamin P., 362. 
Runyon. Theodore, 341. 
Rushworth, Richard, 256. 
Rusk, J. M., 96. 
Russ, Herman H., 62. 
Russ. JamosH., 169. 
Russell, Alfred, 66. 
Russell, John, 404. 



442 



INDEX TO PROPER NAMES 



Russell, John S., 60. 
Russell, W. T., xiii. 
Russell, William H., 338. 
Rutledge, William J., 366, 

367. 
Ryan, Archbishop, 11, 215. 
Ryan, Michael C, 349. 
Ryan, William, 58, 59, 103. 

Sabine, Oliver O, 322. 
Sackett, M. W., 163. 
Sadd, E. A., 394. 
Safford, James B., 65. 
Sage, George R., 64. 
Sage, John L., 62. 
Sage, William L., 59. 
St. George, A., xiii. 
Sanders,*~Frank L., 61. 
Sanders, J. P., xiii. 
Sanderson, Percy, xiii. 
Sandilands, Right Honorable 

Robert, 273. 
Sandilands, Sir James, 273, 

274. 
Sands, Daniel, 409. 
Sands, S. P., 64. 
Sanger, Frank W., 218. 
Samel, Lucian. 401. 
Sanno, James M. J., 56. 
Sansom, J. S., 314. 
Sargent, Frank P., xiii, 382, 

383. 
Sarsfield, Patrick, 211. 
Sartain. John, 63, 85. 
Sater, John E., 65. 
Saunders, Alexander L., 178. 
Saunders, Caleb, 85. 
Saunders, T. W., xiii. 
Saunders, William, 395, 396. 
Savage, A. R., 162, 163. 
Savage, Minot J., 61. 
Savary, P. M., 101. 
Scanlan, John F., 215. 
Scarborough, John, 361. 
Schaale, C. F., xiii. 
Schafer, Samuel, 207. 
Schaus, L. P., 65. 
Schell, Augustus, 355. 
Schivendel, R., 282. 
Schlener, John A., 58. 
Schlumpf, William, 8. 
Schmid, John E. C, 57. 
Schmidt, W. H., 66. 
Schnatz, Peter, 234, 235. 
Schneiden, Paul M., 58. 
Schoder, Anthony, 63. 
Scholfield, Thomas, 251. 
Schord, L. G., xiii. 
Schultz, Edward T., 85. 
Schuyler, Eugene, 340, 361. 
Schwab, Michael, 207. 
Schwartz, George W., 231. 
" "■ arz, W., 234. 

ellenbach, Ernest J., 59. 

fcer, James B., 360. 

•y, Frank H., 362. 
• -Elliott, W., 111. 

, G. A., xiii. 

, George, xiii, 2, 63. 

, J., 105. 

;■ J. D., 6. 
Sftott, J. F., 6. 
Scott, Robert R., 278. 
Scott, S. S., 6. 
Scott, William A., 59. 
Scott, W. N., 355. 
Scottron, S. R., xiii, 49, 67, 73, 

76. 
Scribner, Charles, 353. 
Sears, F. W., 164, 168. 
Sears, John M., xiii, 67. 
Sears, John McK., 59. 
Seaton, David, 273. 
Seaver, R. N., 161, 162. 
Seaver, W. L., 193. 
Seeley, William E., 62. 
Seelye, (President of Am- 
herst), 330. 
Seigel, George J., 164. 
Seitz, John G. O., 58. 
Seixas, M. L., 209. 
Sells, F. A., 183. 
Semple, R. E., 363. 



Sendersen, W. C, xiii. 
Sens, K. H., 142. 
Senter, O. A. B., 64. 
Server, John, xiii. 
Seville, D. F., 6. 
Sevin, Nathan D., 62. 
Sewall, Arthur. W., 95. 
Seward, Clarepo»A.*>348. 
Seward, Josiah L., 6t. 
Seward, William R., 13, 15, 

353. 
Sewell, Thomas, 59. 
Sexton, James A., 369. 
Seymour, George Franklin, 

361. 
Seymour, H. J., 49, 51, 54, 79, 

80. 
Seymour, Sir Henry, 183. 
Seymour, T. W., 142. 
Shafer, John F., 62. 
Shaffer, Vosburg N., 64. 
Shakespeare, William, 171. 
Shannon, William, 299. 
Shapleigh, Elisha B., 352. 
Shapherd, J. E., 162. 
Sharkey, John, 425. 
Sharp, E. M., 65. 
Shattuck, Joseph, 60. 
Shaw, George R., 60. 
Shaw, Levi W., 169. 
Shaw, Margarette, 169. 
Shaw, Samuel, 122. 
Shaw, William, 251. 
Shedd, O. M., 161, 162, 163, 

184. 
Sheffield, James R., 341. 
Shepard, James E., 163, 193. 
Shepard, William, 64. 
Shepherd, Mrs. Margaret L., 

309. 
Shepley, George L., 62. 
Sherer, William, 63, 96. 
Sheridan, Philip H., 365, 374. 
Sherman, Adrian C, 57. 
Sherman, Buren R., 56, 194. 
Sherman, Edwin A., 57. 
Sherman, John, 260. 
Sherman, Roger, 317. 
Sherman, W. T., 365. 
Sherwood, Benson, 2. 
Sherwood, Thomas D., 352. 
Shields, D. H., 161, 162, 163, 

164. 
Shipman, O. W., 65. 
Shipp, J. F., xiii, 376. 
Shiras, George, 341. 
Shirrefs, Robert A., xiii, 60. 
Shook, B. M., 6. 
Shoup, G. L., 96. 
Shreve, Joseph H., 6. 
Shryock, Thomas J., 58, 67, 

87. 
Shurtliff, Ferdinand N.,59. 
Sickels, Charles E., 63. 
Sickels, Sheldon, 64. 
Sickles, Daniel, 2, 60. 
Silberstein, Adolph, 210. 
Simmons, C. E., 104. 
Simmons, J. Edward, 62. 96. 
Simmons, William, 314, 315. 
Simons, John W., 2. 
Simons, Seward A., 364. 
Simons, W. N., xiii. 
Simpson, Jeremiah E., 96. 
Sinexon, Henry L., 390. 
Singleton, William R., 56, 57. 
Sinn, William A., 56. 
Sinnett, A. P., 108, 109, 111. 
Sisson, John W.. 63. 
Sisson, William W., 63. 
Skiff, Charles W., 62. 
Skillman, John M., 364. 
Skinkle, Jacob W., 66. 
Skinner, Charles M., 240. 
Slack, William H.. 64. 
Slattery, M. J., xiii. 
Sloan, Augustus K., 63. 
Sloan, George White, 66. 
Sloan, James, 307. 
Sloss, Levi, 58. 
Smalley, Frank, xiii. 
Smith, Adon, xiii. 
Smith, Albert C, 61. 



Smith, Armistead, 356. 

Smith, Barton, 60. 

Smith, Benjamin D., 158, 164. 

Smith, B. F., 366. 

Smith, Charles Emory, 348. 

Smith, D. P., xiii. 

Smith, Edgar F., 64. 

Smith, Edwin, 145. 

Smith, G. D., 65. 

Smith, George Kimball, xiii, 

231 : 

Smith, Henry B., 61. 
Smith, Hiram, 71: 
Smith, Hoke, 95. 
Smith, J. D, 162. 
Smith, J. Hungerford, 63. 
Smith, Jacob W., 65. 
Smith, James George, 349. 
Smith, Jeremiah G., 58. 
Smith, John Corson, xiii, 60, 

85. \ 

Smith, John S., 192. 
Smith, Joseph, 70, 71, 96. 
Smith, Joseph L., 65. 
Smith, Joseph W., 60. 
Smith, Kilbourn W., 58. 
Smith, Lee S., 64. 
Smith, M. A., Mrs., 231. 
Smith, R. A., 66. 
Smith, S. Merwin, 404. 
Smith, Stephen, 63. 
Smith, Sydney D., 67. 
Smith, Thomas, 356. 
Smith, T. J., xiii. 
Smith, W. B., 402. 
Smith, William, 71. 
Smith, William A., 61. 
Smith, William H., 175. 
Smith, W. J., xiii. 
Smithson, John, 222. 
Smulling, John, 313, 314, 315. 
Smythe, William H., 56, 65. 
Snider, S. H., 144. 
Snike, Elisha, 243. 
Snodgrass, Furman E., 60. 
Snow, B. M., 169. 
Snyder, F. L., 190. 
Snyder, John M., 366. 
Somerbv, Freeman D., 172, 

199, 2*02. 
Somers, A. N., 425. 
Somerville, Thomas, 57. 
Sommers, John B. Yates, 

364. 
Sotheran, Charles, 104. 
Soule, George, 58. 
Sovereign, James R., 394, 401, 

416. 
Spalding, R. L.. 214. 
Spaulding, Enoch R., 67. 
Spaulding, John Franklin, 

361. 
Spaulding, Nathan W., 57. 
Speed, Frederic, 58. 
Speelman, H. V., xiii. 
Speer, Emory, 351. 
Spellman, Charles C, 61. 
Spencer, Edward B., 85. 
Spencer, Frederic A., 62. 
Spencer, J. M., 64. 
Spencer, Philip, 351. 
Speth, G. W., xiii. 
Spies, Joseph, 66. 
Spinoza, 4. 
Spitzer, B. M., 44, 50. 
Spooner, Samuel B., 61. 
Spooner. W. R., xiii, 163. 
Sprenkel, Peter K., 64. 
Spring, Frederick H., 61. 
Spring, S. O., 66. 
Springer, William M., 350. 
Spry, Daniel, 85. 
Squire, Andrew, 65. 
Stafford, Norman M., 169. 
Stagg, Alonzo A., 340. 
Stahlnecker, William G., 363. 
Stanford, Leland, 96. 
Stansberry, J. B., 6. 
Stanton, Edwin M., 95. 
Stark, E. J., 66. 
Stark, John, 356. 
Staton, James W., 58. 
Stead, T. Ballan, xiii. 



Stearns, J. B., xiii. 
Stebbins, John W., xiii. 
Steber, Louis A., 164. 
Stedman, Edmund C, 361. 
Steed, George W.. 63. 
Steele, Charles, 380. 
Steele, Richard, 95. 
Steele, Samuel C, 62. 
Steen, David, 299. 
Steere, Joseph H., 65. 
Stees, F. E., xiii. 
Steffe, Christian G., 64. 
Stein, C. H., 161. 
Stephens, Uriah S., 385, 389, 

390, 391, 392. 
Stephenson, Benjamin F., 

366, 367, 369. 
Stephenson, Mary H., xiii, 

366. 
Stephenson. S. M.. 65. 
Stern, H., 208. 
Stetson, Alfred E., 352. 
Stetson, Francis Lynde, 348. 
Stettinius, John L., 2, 60. 
Steuben, Baron, 95, 370, 373. 
Stevens, A. E., xiii, 164. 
Stevens, Albert C, 63. 
Stevens, E. B., 66. 
Stevens, D. E., xiii, 133, 161, 

162, 163. 164. 
Stevens, George B., 122. 
Stevens, Mark W., 164. 
Stevens, Thaddeus, 16. 
Stevens, T. Jefferson, 63. 
Stevens, Walter A., 60. 
Stevens, William, 314. 
Stevens, William J., 61. 
Stevenson, David A., 64. 
Steward, C. C, xiii. 
Stewart. Alphonse C, 58. 
Stewart, James F., xiv, 302. 
Stewart, John, 63. 
Stewart, Merwin H., 360. 
Stewart. Neil, 278. 
Stewart, Robert, 219, 220. 
Stewart, W. M.. 322. 
Stickney, Horace W., 61. 
Stiles, Albert, 65. 
Stiles, Benjamin F., 62. 
Stiles, George, 314, 315. 
Stiles, Robert B., 63. 
Stipp, Joseph A., 64. 
Stockdell, Henry C, 57. 
Stocker, Anthony E., 85. 
Stoker, Eugene LeC, 66. 
Stolts, W. A., xiii. 
Stone, Charles E., 57. 
Stone, Horace A., 63. 
Stone, J. T., 360. 
Stone, Seymour H., 62. 
Stone, William L., 15. 
Storke, E. F.. 66. 
Storrs, Henry L., 347. 
Storrs, R. S., 348. 
Story. Joseph, 16, 331, 357, 

358. 
Story, William, 62. 
Stoskoff, Michael, 66. 
Stow, Orson W., 352. 
Stowe, James G., 58. 
Stowell, C. L.,xiii. 
Stowell, Henry. 63. 
Strang, James J., 102. 
Strauss, A., 231. 
Strauss, Henry, 208. 
Strayer, S. H., 183. 
Streator, Andrew J., 387. 
Striker, D.. 65. 
Stringer, T. W., 266. 
Stringham, L. M.,xiii. 
Strong, Orlo W., 404. 
Stuart, John, 356. 
Stuart, William, 357. 
Stubbs, T. J., xiv. 
Studley, J. Edwards, 62. 
Stull, John M., 65. 
Stnrtevant, Stephen V., 63. 
Sudborough, Thomas K., 59. 
Suetonius, Paulinus, 286. 
Suleb, M., xiv. 
Sullavou, E., xiv. 
Sullivan, Alexander, 413, 414. 
Sullivan, B. F., xiv. 



TO PROPER NAMES 



443 



Sullivan, T. F., xiv. 
Sulzberger. Solomon, 208. 
Sumner, William Graham, 

340,361. 
Sussex, Duke of, 39. 82. 
Sutherland, William A., 63. 
Swain, Julius M., 135, 164,186. 
Swallow, James H., 169. 
Swartout, R. D., 65. 
Swayne, Wager, 341. 
Swedenborg, 98, 102. 
Sweeny, D. D., 399. 
Sweet, Samuel B., 65. 
Sweigard, Isaac A., 64. 

Taber. Samuel T.. 351. 
Tabor. August B., 65. 
Taft. Alfonso, 338. 
Taft, ElihuB., 61. 
Taft, J. S.. 165. 
Taft, William H., 340. 
Talbot, A. R., 158. 
Talleott, Edwin C, 63. 
Talmage, T. DeWitt. 189. 
Tamanend (Chief). 239, 240. 
Tamina (Chief). 325. 
Tardy, J. G., 46, 50. 
Tarr. Eugene, 353. 
Taschereau, Cardinal, 12. 
Tate, J. G., 163. 164. 
Taylor, Frederick S., 360. 
Taylor, George, 299. 
Taylor, Harold, xiv. 
Taylor, Jesse, 303. 
Taylor. John, 71. 
Taylor, Joseph C, 57. 
Taylor, J. B.,98. 
Taylor. Leroy M., 57. 
Taylor, L. G., 137. 
Taylor, Marshall W., 288. 
Taylor, W. R., xiv. 
Tecumseh, 95. 
Telfair, Jacob R, 62. 
Tell, William. 414. 
Teller, Henry M., 56, 96. 
Temple, Thomas F., 61. 
Ten Eyck, James. 62. 
Tenney, Hannah J.. 169. 
Tenney, Samuel P.. 169. 
Terhune. W 7 illiam F., 351. 
Terrell, George, xiv. 
Thacher, John Boyd, 62. 
Thacher, Stephen D., 58. 
Thayer, H. G.. 65. 
Thiele, T. B., xiv. 
Thomas, Catharine A., 169. 
Thomas, Charles H., 169. 
Thomas, George H., 365. 
Thomas, Geonre L.. 355. 
Thomas, Theodore H.. 194. 
Thomas. Warren La Rue, 58. 
Thompson. Caleb C, 64. 
Thompson, F. J., 56. 
Thompson, Frank J., 59. 
Thompson, Hopkins, 49, 51, 

55. 
Thompson, Jacob. 95. 
Thompson, Jesse E., 61. 
Thompson, John K.. 169. 
Thompson, Joseph H., 58. 
Thompson. J. W., xiv. 
Thompson. Mrs. Margaret, 

308. 
Thompson. Maurice, 362. 
Thompson, Walter J., 60. 
Thomson. Charles H., 2. 
Thorndike. Samuel L., 61. 
Thorp. D. D., 65. 
Thrall, Edwin A., 62. 
Thurn, Herbert J., 137. 
Thurston, John M., 96. 
Tice. Josiah. 63. 
Tilden, Samuel J.. 241. 
Tilden. Thomas W., 63. 
Tillou. Edward L., 63. 
Tinder. J. T., 165. 
Tink, D. C, 159. 
Tipper. F. S., xiv. 
Titcomb, Virginia C, xiv, 

318. 
Titus. Robert C, 63. 
Todd, Samuel M., 56. 
Todd, Q., xiv. 



T 7. 48, 95. 

Tom^ :ins, . av. 

Tompson, John _. , 395, 396. 
Tone, Wolfe. 414. 
Toombs, Robert. 96. 
Toomey, D. P., xiv. 
Torre, Giovanni. 59. 
Torry. George W., 62. 
Totten, James S., 64. 
Totten, Warren. 160, 161. 
Tourgee, Albion W.. 361. 
Towle. Charles N.. 61. 
Townshend. Charles. 323. 
Tracy, Benjamin F.. 95. 
Tracy. David B.. 57. 60. 
Tracy, D. Bnrnham, 85. 
Trainer, Mary A. M.. 216. 
Trail, R. T.. 411. 
Trask. Wayland. 62. 
Traynor. W. J. H., 294, 295, 

296. 
Treby, Johnson. 60. 
Trefry. W T illiam D. T.. 61. 
Trimble, John. xiv. 395. 
Trimble. Robert, 96. 
Trippe. A. C. 161. 
Troutman. C. E.. xiv. 
Tryon, Edward K., 314. 
Tucker. C. H.. 64. 
Tucker, George. 313. 314. 
Tucker, John C, 350. 
Tucker. Philip C. 48. 
Turberville. George L., 357. 
Turnbull. William W., 404. 
Turner. Daniel J.. Jr., 59. 
Turner, James. 314. 
Turner. William H., 66. 
Tuthill, David S.. 59. 
Tuttle. George W T .. 360. 
Twanley. James. 59. 
Tweed. William M.. 241. 
Twitchell. Joseph H., 341. 
Tyler, C. W.. xiv. 
Tyler, George O.. 60. 85. 
Tyler, Moses Coit. 340. 348. 
Tyler, Wat. 272. 
Tyng, Stephen H., 96. 
Tyng, Stephen H., Jr., 351. 
Tyson. N. W., 375. 

Underhill. C. F., xiv, 187. 
Underwood. John C, 347. 
L'nderwood, Levi, 61. 
Underwood. William J.. 62. 
Unverzagt. C. H.. xiv. 198. 
Upchurch, John Jordon, 128, 

129. 
Upson. I. S.. xiv. 
Urban II.. 269. 
L T rner, Henry C, 64. 

Vail. Walter. 65. 
Yallandigham, Clement L., 

420. 
Vallerchamp. John, 63. 
Van Buren. James, 421 . 
Van Buskirk. George W T ., 63. 
Vance. A. F.. Jr.. 64. 
Vance, Zebulon B.. 96. 362. 
Van Der Voort. Paul. 369. 
Van Deventer. James T.. 57. 
Van Nuys. Franklin. 229. 
Van Rensselaer. Killian H., 

49, 51. 
Van Shultz, Shultz, 421. 
Van Valkenburg. John, 264, 

265. 
Vaux, Richard. 96. 
Veazey. Wlieelock G., 369. 
Verner. Thomas, 308. 
Vertican, F. W., xiv, 399. 
Vick, Frank H., 63. 
Victor Emmanuel. 4, 95. 
Vilas, William F., 359. 
Vincent, Walter B., 62. 
Vincil, J. D., 56. 
Vining, Harrison S., 62. 
Vivian, Charles Algernon S., 

230. 
Vogt, Charles C. 58. 
Voltaire. 9, 95. 241, 311. 
Von Helmont, John Baptist, 

87. 



Von Hund. 30, 38. 

Von Swaitworst, William H., 

388 
Voorhees, Daniel W., 96, 350, 

420. 
Voris, S. E., 190. 



Wachtmeister. Countess, 109. 

Wadleigh. Leroy B., 57. 

Wadsworth, H. A.. 193. 

Wadsworth, J. C. L., 66. 

Wagenhals, F. S., 133, 164. 

Wagner, A. H., 66. 

Wagner, Charles W. A., 57. 

Wagner, Louis. 369. 

Waide, S. Leonard. 194. 

Wait, Albert S.,61. 

Waite, Almon C, 60. 

Waite, G. H., xiv. 

Wakeman, Edgar L.. 363. 

Walbridge, Frederick G., 61. 

Walden, J. M., 64. 

Waldron, Frederic H., 62. 

Wales. Prince of. 220. 277, 307. 

Walker, Charles P., 169. 

Walker, Francis A.. 352. 

Walker, Ivan N., 369. 

Walker, Kephart D., 60. 

Walker. Mary L., 169. 

Walker, Philip. 185. 

Walker, Sidney F.. 62. 

Walker, William T., 164. 

W 7 alkinshaw, L. C, xiv. 

Wallace. Lew. 190. 

Wallace. R. Bruce, xiv. 

Wallack. J. W., Jr., 218. 

"Waller, Thomas M., 96. 

Wallick. J. F.. 172. 

Walsh, William A., 355. 

Walshe, Robert J., 66. 

Walters. J. W.. 110. 

Ward. A. G.. Mrs., 154. 

W 7 ard, Charles S., 62. 

W T ard, Francis G., 63. 

Ward, J. H. Ho bar t, 60. 

Warner, Charles Dudley, 361. 

Warner. H. A., 164. 

W T arner. William. 369. 

W 7 arnock, Adam, 113. 162, 163. 

Warren, Edward F., 59. 

W T arren, Frederick R., 193. 

Warren, Joseph, 95, 27. 

W T arvelle, George W., 66, 83. 

Washburn e. Edwin D., 63. 

Washburne, W. D., 362. 

Washington. George. 32, 95, 
129, 273. 300. 305, 312, 320, 
325. 333, 370. 373, 414. 

W 7 aterhouse. Columbus. 57. 

W T aterman, Robert H., 2. 

Waterman, Thomas. 61, 135. 

Watkins, James S., xiv, 137. 

W T atrous, Jerome A., 66. 

Watson. John, 56. 

Watson, Thomas. 164. 

Watson, Thomas F., 63. 

Watson, William P., 57. 

W r eatherbee. J., xiv. 

Weatherby, Charles J., 221. 

Weaver, I. M.. Mrs., 280. 

Weaver, James B., 306. 

Weaver, James E., 388. 

Weaver, William H., 63. 

Weaver. W. G., 165. 

Weaver, W. R., 197. 

Webb, H. W 7 alter, 353. 

Webb, Thomas Smith, 34. 

Webb, W. Nehemiah. 214. 

Webb, W. Seward. 353. 

Webber, Frederick, 56, 85. 

Webber. G. H., 172. 

Webster, Charles H.. 60. 

Webster, Daniel P., 61. 

Webster, Edward C, 59. 

Webster, John F., 60. 

Webster, W. P.. 56. 

W 7 echselberg. Julius. 66. 

Wechsler, Rev. Dr., 209. 

W T eed, Thurlow. 13, 15, 346. 

W T eeks, Joseph D., xiv, 96. 

W T eihe, William, xiv, 378. 

W 7 eishaupt, Adam, 4, 344, 356. 



Welch, Albion F., 61. 
Welch, Charles A., 61. 
Welch, John, 256. 
Welch, Orrin, 2. 
Weld, John F., 70. 
Weld. OtisE., 61. 
Welde, John, 145. 
Weller. John J., 59. 
Wellington. Lord, 95. 
W 7 ells, Daniel, 71. 
W T ells, Samuel, 60. 
Welsh, Robert A.. 175. 
W T ende, Ernest, xiv, 180. 
Wentworth, H. M., 169. 
Wentworth. Maggie, 169. 
W 7 escott. David. 390. 
West, BinaM.. 155. 
W T est. Gideon, 57. 
Westbrook, R. B., 104. 
W 7 etmore. George Peabody, 

340. 
Wheeler, Daniel H., 59. 
Wheeler, Edward D., 65. 
Wheeler. Everett P., 348. 
Wheeler. F. A., 66. 
Wheeler, Francis, 380. 
Whipple. Helen M.. 169. 
W T hipple. John H., 61. 
Whipple. John J., 169. 
Whitaker, E. S.. 64. 
Whitaker, Joseph. 314. 
Whitaker, Ozi William, 361. 
Whitcomb, Charles W.. 61. 
White, Ahira R., 65. 
White, Andrew D.. 340, 361, 

363. 
White, Hunter C, 62. 
White, John A., 380. 
White, John H., 261. 
White, J. W., 158. 
White, R. L. C. xiv, 265. 
White, Stillman, 62. 
W T hite, W. H.. 314. 
W 7 hite. W 7 illiam H., 63. 
Whitehouse. Benjamin G., 59. 
W 7 hiting. William H., 2. 
Whitman, Ozias, 58. 
W T hitney, John. 13. 
W 7 hitney. LeRoyC, 66. 
W T hitney. William Collins, 

340, 361. 
Whitney, William Dwight, 

363. 
Whytehead, Thomas B., 86. 
W 7 iener, Oscar, 209. 
Wier. William. 394. 
W 7 iesenfeld. David, 58. 
Wiessert, A. G., 369. 
Wiggin, J. H., 104. 
Wiglev. Arthur B., 64. 
Wilder, Marshall P., 96. 
W T ildey, Thomas, 236, 256, 

257, 288. 
W 7 ile, Samuel F., 364. 
Wilkinson. Francis M., 66. 
W T ilkiuson. S. E., 384. 
Willard, Frances, 833. 
William III., Prince of 

Orange, 211. 306, 309. 
Williams. Duane. 360. 
Williams, E. A., 6. ■ 
Williams, Henry. 44. 
Williams, Henry H., 57. 
Williams. James M., 58. 
Williams. John D., 2, 62. 
Williams, J. H.. 64. 
W T illiams, Richard P., 59. 
W 7 illiams, Robert D., 63. 
Williams, S. S.. 64. 
Williams, Thomas H., 65. 
Williamson. E. J., 142. 
Williamson. I. D., 260. 
Willis, Edward M., 57. 
W T ills, S. A., 163. 
Wilmot, David. 96. 
W T ilson, A. D., 411. 
W T ilson, Albert K.. 56. 
Wilson. Charles L., 292. 
W 7 ilson. D. L.. 419, 421. 
W 7 ilson, D. M.,279. 
Wilson, Darius. 123, 186. 
Wilson. David H., 58. 
Wilson, J. G., 317. 



444 



INDEX TO PROPER X. 



Wilson, James W., xiv, 385. 
Wilson, John McMillan, 359 
Wilson, Samuel B., 362. 
Wilson, Thomas, 307. 
Wilson, William, 353. 
Wilson, William B., 164. 
Wilson. William B., 393. 
Wilson, W. H., xiv. 
Wilson, W. Warne, xiv, 131. 
Wiltse, Hiram L., 66. 
WincheU, Rev. Dr., 341. 
Winegarner, D. C, 64. 
Winfield, Albert D., 63. 
Wing, George W., 61. 
Winn. .A- M.. 169. 
Winsor, Lou B., 65. 
Winthrop. Theodore, 352. 
Wirt, William. 14. 
Wishard, A. W.. 161. 
Witherill, L. D., 143. 
Witherspoon, James L., 351. 
Withington, George E., 59. 
Witt. Bernard G., 58. 
Wolf. Simon, 208. 
Wolihin, Andrew M., 56, 57. 



Wood, Austin C, 62. 
Wood, C. B., xiv. 
Wood, David Ward, 385. 
Wood. Edwin O., xiv, 151. 
Wood, George. 63. 
Wood, James W., 355. 
Wood, Julian E., 360. 
Wood, Julius C, 66. 
Wood, Marshall W., 59. 
Wood, M. D..Mrs., 265. 
Woodbury, Charles Levi, 60. 
Woodford, A. F. A., 18. 
Woodford, Stewart L., 353. 
Woodham, Alfred, 62. 
Woodman, Francis J., 57. 
Woodman, William Robert, 

86. 
Woodruff. Carle A., 59. 
Woodruff, C.S., xiv. 
Woodruff. David B., 265. 
Woodruff, Wilford, 70. 
Woods, Leonard, 354. 
Woods, William B., 350. 
Woodward, Benjamin S., 57. 
Woodward, Charles A., 64. 



Wooawaru, Clarence L., 63. 
Woodward, Henry, 62. 
Woolsey, G. F., xiv. 
Woolsey, Theodore S., 340. 
Work, Joseph W., 61. 
Works, Charles A., 66. 
Wray, Samuel W., 64. 
Wright, Alfred G., 63. 
Wright, Carroll D., 388, 390. 
Wright, C. F., 109. 
Wright, Edwin, 61. 
Wright, George W., xiv, 178. 
Wright, J. H., 186. 
Wright, James L., 390. 
Wright, Pitkin C, 59. 
Wright, Robert J., 61. 
Wright, Walter Rodwell, 82. 
Wright, William B., xiv, 

157. 
Wright, William H. S., 58. 
Wroth, W. J., 198. 
Wyatt, T. J., 142. 
Wyckoff, Edward S., 63, 85. 
Wycoff, Ira A.M., 174. 
Wyman, David A., 71. 



Yarker, John, 80. 
Yates, G. F.. 48, 49. 
Yates, John T., 194. 
Yeames, James, 405. 
Yoder, S. S., 322. 
Young, Alva A., Mrs., 

279, 280. 
Young, Brigham, 70, 71, 

102, 103. 
Young, Charles F., 61. 
Young, E. Bentley, 61. 
Young, Edward L.. 164. 
Young, Frank H. O., 59. 
Young, G. C, 273. 
Young, James, xiv. 
Young, James H., 61. 
Young, J. D.. 165. 
Youngs, Melvin L., 66. 
Youngs. William H., 288. 
Yusef Bey, 1. 



Zeigler, Louis, 59. 
Zell, T. Elwood, 372. 



265, 



apr -o raw 






